Gulfport man accused of killing WLOX employee had shot his wife in TX, prosecutor says
A Gulfport man accused of killing his father, a longtime WLOX-TV employee, had served time in Texas for shooting his wife, a prosecutor said.
That and other information came out during a preliminary hearing Wednesday in the first-degree murder case of John William Anderson, 36.
Anderson, 36, is being held on a $1 million bond on a first-degree murder charge in the killing of his father, Thomas Anderson.
John Anderson had previously served time in a Texas prison for aggravated assault. In that case, he was convicted of shooting and injuring his wife in 2008 and spent seven years in prison for the crime, Harrison County Prosecuting Attorney Herman Cox said.
Anderson’s court-appointed attorney asked for a bond reduction for his client, but Judge Brandon Ladner refused to reduce the $1 million bond after hearing testimony Wednesday.
Anderson is accused of repeatedly stabbing his father outside his father’s home on Demaret Drive on Jan. 12. Thomas Anderson died of his injuries on Jan. 19.
The case was sent to a Harrison County grand jury for indictment.
According to affidavits filed in the case, a witness told police she saw the suspect standing over Thomas Anderson and stabbing him three or four times in the face and neck area. Anderson also had stab wounds to the chest, the records say.
A short time after police got to the scene, John Anderson showed up in his black Ford Taurus that had blood on part of a bumper, the records say.
Anderson told Gulfport police he was acting in self defense though he did not have any injuries, Cox said.
Anderson had a couple of other small knives on him, Cox said, but they did not have any blood on them. Police did send those weapons to the state Crime Lab for testing.
John Anderson was initially arrested on a charge of aggravated assault, but the charge was upgraded to first-degree murder upon his father’s death.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
