CANTON — A Mississippi judge has sentenced a man to 210 years in prison for firing an automatic rifle at law enforcement officers in 2019 and leaving a sheriff’s deputy partially paralyzed.
Edgar Egbert appeared Thursday in Madison County Circuit Court and pleaded guilty to six counts of attempted murder of law enforcement agents.
The Clarion Ledger reported Circuit Judge John Emfinger read the charges aloud in a courtroom packed with Madison County deputies and other officers. Emfinger gave Egbert six consecutive 35-year sentences.
Court testimony revealed Egbert, a former Marine, shot at deputies in their vehicles, shattering windshields and side windows.
Deputy Brad Sullivan remained in a coma almost a month after he was shot. He was paralyzed on his left side and cannot see from his right eye. Sullivan told the court he remembers the immediate aftermath of the shooting but little else.
Sullivan uses a wheelchair and said he has had to re-learn once simple tasks such as making sandwiches for his 8-year-old son. As Egbert sat shackled behind the courtroom defense table, Sullivan told him: “You murdered me that day.”
Deputies first responded to a domestic disturbance call from Egbert’s wife who said he was in a jealous rage when he kidnapped a man from a parking lot in Jackson. According to police reports, Egbert forced the man into a vehicle at gunpoint, took him to the Egberts’ Madison County home and chained him to a bed.
Deputies engaged in a high-speed pursuit with Egbert before disabling his vehicle. Instead of surrendering, Egbert pulled out an automatic rifle and began shooting, witnesses said.
Egbert was also injured in the shooting, and said he wanted deputies to kill him. A mental evaluation by the court determined he was of sound mind. “I’m very sorry for being greedy and self-centered,” Egbert said in court Thursday.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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