Pearl River County ‘speechless’ after courthouse shooting. What we know about the suspect
From her country porch, or behind the wheel of her pickup truck, Tanya Saucier had a habit of raising her phone and recording short videos of what was on her mind.
Some days, she spoke vaguely of suspicions and perceived threats. In other recordings, she talked bluntly about a shooting that apparently left her with a prosthetic eye.
Saucier’s Facebook page shows more than 30 videos she made in the last three months.
“Y’all be blessed,” she often said at the end of the recordings, “and a blessing to others.”
Now, Tanya Saucier, 49, is jailed in Pearl River County and accused of a brazen shooting on Tuesday that left her estranged husband dead outside the courthouse in Poplarville, just after their divorce became final.
She filed for the divorce from James Ray Saucier, 62, in December last year. A grand jury two months earlier had indicted him on a felony charge of aggravated domestic violence. He was set for trial in March on the charge of shooting Tanya Saucier in the face.
Their divorce settlement conference was 10 a.m. Tuesday, said Jansen Owen, a state representative and Tanya Saucier’s former attorney. He said James and Tanya appeared in court separately because of their “volatile” relationship.
It was a normal hearing, Owen said. He stayed behind and was walking out of the courthouse at 12:15 p.m. when he ran into James Saucier, who was leaving the Chancery Clerk’s office. They made some small talk and left together.
Owen said he walked into the parking lot and saw Tanya Saucier still sitting in her truck. James was apparently still near the courthouse doors.
Owen said he suddenly heard gunfire and metal clanking. Maybe it is coming from across the street, he recalled thinking. He said he briefly thought the bank was being robbed. But then he heard yelling, turned around and said he saw a child who had been leaving the courthouse turn and run inside.
Owen said he saw Tanya Saucier shoot James Saucier multiple times.
Owen walked toward her and shouted an expletive, he said. He said he stared at her, then grabbed her throat and slammed her into a car. He recalled putting her hands behind her back and her face into the hood. A drug court officer nearby soon detained her, Owen said.
He said he rushed to James Saucier, using his tie and shirt with four women from the Chancery Clerk’s office to apply a tourniquet and pressure to the wounds. The women prayed. They held James’ hands.
“We do not do vigilante justice in America,” Owen said on Thursday. “She executed him in cold blood and almost killed other people on the scene. I saw it.”
Recollections of suspect differ starkly
Little is known about Tanya Saucier, an U.S. Army veteran deployed overseas who Owen said had served 12 years. Owen took Saucier on as a client in September last year and could not detail much of her history because of attorney-client privilege. Her family declined to be interviewed for this story or give the name of her new attorney.
But the violence outside the usually quiet courthouse has shaken the tight-knit city of Poplarville, where most residents know each other well. The Board of Supervisors before the shooting was already discussing safety at the courthouse, which has no outside security cameras. Donald Hart, the Board’s vice president, said he could remember no crime so shocking in the county’s recent memory.
“We’re all grieving,” he said. “It’s just a tragic incident. It left a lot of us speechless.”
Some across Poplarville recalled Tanya Saucier as a friendly, compassionate person who loved field trials and hunting dogs. She talked often on Facebook of her love for hunting, and shared posts about dogs and other animals.
“She was very polite,” David Davis, an employee at the Hall’s Service Station where Tanya Saucier was a customer, said hours after the shooting. “Real soft-spoken.”
James Saucier’s family members at the scene of the shooting on Tuesday offered a starkly different portrait of her. Wordie Carroll, James’ brother-in-law, said Tanya was “not as rational” after she returned from duty. He said she had mood swings, and that the family had warned James “to stay away from her.”
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“We weren’t sure what she would do,” Carroll said.
James Saucier’s family said he was a good man. He was a fisherman and hunter who retired from Ingalls Shipbuilding. His family said they believe the shooting that he was indicted for was out of self-defense. They said they wished more had been done to prevent the tragedy.
“There are so many questions,” Johanna Peterson, the sister in law of James’ sister, said.
Poplarville processing tragedy
Tanya Saucier is listed in state records as the manager of a business called Lil Birdies Flower Bed Nursery, a small garden operation in Poplarville’s Steephollow community. The business was dissolved earlier this year. It is also connected with another business called Davis’ Trading Post. Tanya Saucier apparently took over that business after she retired from the Army and sold antiques, jewelry and furniture, according to a 2017 story in the Picayune Item. The store appears to have gone out of business soon after.
In one video recently posted to her Facebook page, Tanya Saucier said she had never worn much makeup since “the incident” but recently decided to start. She talked about menopause and harm she said was inflicted on her. “Those symptoms do not just go away,” she said. “They get worse.”
In other recent videos, she pleaded with people to take good care of their dogs, thanked veterans for their service and criticized those who make light of mental health.
Hart said county and court employees are supporting each other, and the county is reviewing its active shooter emergency plans. He also praised the heroic actions of the Chancery Court employees.
“You just never expect something to go this far,” he said.
This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 10:01 AM.
