A grand jury will weigh whether to charge Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard over his alleged involvement in an armed robbery earlier this summer, according to Police Chief Joseph Daughtry.
Quavis Shawnterris Betts, 28, is charged with armed robbery after allegedly holding two victims at gunpoint in the Waffle House parking lot June 25. Police have confirmed Betts was arrested in a hotel room at the La Quinta Inn that was booked in Beard’s name.
There is also surveillance footage showing the suspect and Beard interacting around the time of the robberies.
During a Tuesday appearance at the Columbus Rotary Club meeting at Events Off Fifth, Rotarian Bob Raymond asked Daughtry why Beard had not been arrested.
Daughtry said that it wasn’t clear now that Beard had done anything wrong.
“As of right now, after talking with (District Attorney Scott Colom), Mr. Beard hasn’t done anything,” Daughtry said. “But we are presenting the case to the grand jury, and we’re going to go from there.”
The person who committed the robbery and was “terrorizing” the community was arrested, Daughtry said.
“A lot of people have agendas and want me to do things a certain way,” Daughtry said. “I have to follow the law. We talked to the DA and the attorney general’s office, and at this point we don’t have any charges on him.”
When asked for comment, Beard responded by text, “Tell the Rotarian Club to invite me to speak at their next luncheon.”
Rotarian Roger Burlingame asked Daughtry what was driving the epidemic of gun violence in Columbus. There have been high-profile shootings recently at Columbus Place and Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle.
“These kids feel like they have no hope, and no guidance,” Daughtry said. “… We are losing a generation. They have no hope for school. They have no hope for education. They have no hope. We have to try to find a way to give them some hope.”
People need to become more involved in the whole community, not just their part of it, Daughtry said.
“You have some people who feel like it’s not their side of town, so they’re not going to worry about it,” Daughtry said. “But what happens when your wife is walking through (Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle) and shots ring out?”
The shooting July 31 in the parking lot at BMH-GT wounded four people. Two brothers from Artesia were later arrested and charged with six counts each of aggravated assault and one count each of shooting into an occupied vehicle. The shooting was allegedly part of an ongoing feud between the suspects and victims.
Daughtry said he thinks the idea that Columbus is dangerous is overplayed.
“Every time I turn around, (the news media) is there wanting to know what’s going on in Columbus,” Daughtry said. “… But you’ve got stuff happening in other cities around here that you’re not hearing about. That’s the part that irritates me. There’s a lot of shooting going on in Starkville and West Point.”
Columbus has only had one homicide this year, Daughtry said.
“In other years we’ve averaged between five and seven by this time of the year,” Daughtry said. “We’re putting more officers on the street, and we’re trying to do more with limited resources.”
Daughtry said he wanted to be able to work more efficiently with agencies across the Golden Triangle, and to that end is working to set up a Golden Triangle law enforcement channel on the state radio network.
“If we have an active shooter or something like that, every badge and gun in radio distance is coming,” he said. “If we can’t communicate, it’ll be a cluster. We’ll have one channel we can share with everybody, and we can all communicate on that frequency.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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