MS Coast man sentenced to prison for attacking ex-girlfriend, two of her friends
A Mississippi Coast man said he had been “drinking heavily” the night he forced his way into a former girlfriend’s home and attacked her and two of her friends with a gun in an act of domestic violence, according to the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office.
Alvin Lamar Ballard, 33, of Moss Point, made the admissions when he pleaded guilty Friday to aggravated assault in the March 29, 2021, attack at a home on Prince George Drive in Gautier.
Judge Kathy King Jackson sentenced Ballard to 20 years in prison, suspending two years and leaving 18 years for him to serve in prison.
The Gautier police investigation began after officers responded to a report of an assault and found Ballard’s ex-girlfriend and her two friends with cuts on their heads. The women subsequently told police about how Ballard attacked them with a gun and then fired a shot into the ceiling at the home before he left.
Gautier police made the arrest a couple of weeks after the assault.
Assistant district attorneys Nick Mobley and Ann Morgan Sullivan prosecuted the case.
“After committing a very violent crime, this defendant made several attempts to escape accountability,” District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said.
“This case is a reminder that domestic violence can, and unfortunately often does, occur even after a relationship has ended. Because of the strength of these victims, this defendant will not be back in our community to hurt anyone for a very long time.”
