Pickleball dispute ends with gun threat and MS man convicted of aggravated assault

A St. Tammany Parish jury found a 70-year-old man from Carriere, Mississippi, guilty of assault for pointing a gun at the head of another man during a dispute in a pickleball game in Lacombe, authorities said Tuesday.

Robert John Morrison faces up to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of aggravated assault with a firearm, according to a news release from 22nd Judicial District Attorney Warren Montgomery’s office.

Morrison and a 55-year-old man got into an argument during a game in May 2020. During Morrison’s trial last Thursday, witnesses testified that the men had been in previous arguments over the sport, the news release said.

“I really thought he was going to shoot him,” one witness testified.

Morrison told the court that he was “defending his life, liberty and freedom.” His attorney told the jury Morrison was acting in self-defense to save his life, the DA’s office said.

Authorities said during the argument, Morrison retrieved a handgun from his truck. He cocked it, pointed it at the victim’s head and said, “It’s loaded,” the DA’s office said.

Morrison also threatened the victim with a 2x4 board, the DA’s office said.

Morrison was arrested at the Henry J. Calamari Memorial Tennis Center in Slidell where police found a gun in his tennis bag.

During closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney, Iain Dover, addressed the jury. “I don’t want this to become the new normal. This can’t be how we respond to disagreements on the pickleball court,” he said.

Sentencing is set for Jan. 31, 2023.