By Pat Culverhouse

Aggravated assault with a firearm and domestic abuse battery charges have been filed against a 24-year-old Athens man as the result of an altercation that began on Minden’s Shreveport Rd. and ended just outside the city limits.

Chief of Police Jared McIver said Devon Michael Stiles was taken into custody by MPD officers and a Webster Parish Sheriff’s deputy Sunday evening after finding the suspect and his companion parked in the middle of a parish road.

Officers reportedly were dispatched to a residence in the 1500 block of Shreveport Rd. to investigate a reported disturbance involving a firearm, McIver said.

“Officers Logan Clingan and Dedrick Anderson were told the suspect had allegedly first struck his girlfriend, then pointed a small .22 caliber handgun at the complainant and began making threats,” the chief said. “The suspect and his companion left the residence before our officers arrived.”

WPSO Lt. Chase Walsworth reportedly detained Stiles on Allen Dr. until MPD officers arrived. Officers reportedly were told the suspect stopped the vehicle and began tossing items from the vehicle, including the keys.

Officers reportedly were told Stiles walked into a wooded area where the vehicle was stopped with a firearm, but returned without it. Officers failed to recover the firearm, but found four live rounds and one spent round of .22 ammunition in the suspect’s pocket.

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.