(Decatur County, IN) – A former area fire chief has been sentenced after a plea deal in a shots fired case was approved by Decatur Superior Judge Matthew Bailey this week.
Former Adams Township Fire Chief Craig Jones will spend four years in an Indiana Department of Correction facility, serve two years’ probation and pay court costs and fees, after he pled guilty to one count of Battery by Means of a Deadly Weapon (Level 5 felony).
In addition to that count, Jones was initially charged with felony Attempted Voluntary Manslaughter (Level 2), and Aggravated Battery (Level 3), which were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
The charges stemmed from an incident in November 2021 in St. Paul, in which the now 36-year-old Jones was accused of firing into the back window of a vehicle following a dispute at 303 East Water Street.
Investigators say a male juvenile was grazed on the left side of his head and was treated at Major Hospital in Shelbyville.
It all started when a Decatur County Sheriff’s deputy was responding to a report of a pedestrian hit by a vehicle at the Water Street address when a “shots fired” call was sent out by Decatur County Communications.
Court documents indicate Jones’ wife Renee was upset her daughter was late for curfew, and lectured the driver for speeding and driving erratically.
Renee Jones put her hand on the car’s passenger-side door handle as the driver took off and she fell but was not seriously hurt.
As the car drove off, Craig Jones allegedly fired into the car’s rear window and wounded the male juvenile.
