The alleged accomplice to an intruder who was shot and killed during a Lawrence County home invasion last week surrendered to sheriff’s deputies Monday.
Deputies booked Michael Alford, 995 Highway 84 W., Brookhaven, on one charge of burglary of an occupied dwelling.
“He walked in yesterday morning at about 9 o’clock,” Sheriff Joel Thames said.
Deputies allege the 34-year-old acted as an accomplice to Matthew James Javor, 30, who was shot and killed by a homeowner last week.
Around 4:30 a.m. on Sept. 24, deputies arrived at the Henry Cox Road home of David Maxwell and found Javor, 30, 3051 Greenwood Road, Ruth, lying dead a few feet inside Maxwell’s back door.
The sheriff’s office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation decided that Maxwell acted within his rights and have filed no charges against him.
“The shooting was completely justified,” Thames said last week. “Mr. Maxwell was defending himself and his property.”
Maxwell reportedly woke up to the sound of his dog barking and retrieved his 12-gauge shotgun loaded with bird shot at his home about two miles east of Monticello.
Maxwell told lawmen that as he walked into his kitchen he saw a man prying open his back door, and once the man entered, Maxwell fired one shot, killing him, Thames said.
He said Maxwell then walked out of his back door and saw a man inside a pickup truck in the back yard.
The homeowner fired two shots at the truck, shattering one of its windows and prompting the driver, whom authorities later identified as Alford, to speed away.
“He’d been on the run,” Thames said. “I believe his family members encouraged him to turn himself in.”
Alford is being held in the Lawrence County jail, and as of this morning, no bond had been set, but Thames said that will probably change sometime today.
Thames said while lawmen thought Alford may have been shot in the incident, but he showed no signs of gunshot wounds.
