The man shot by a sheriff’s deputy after he threatened deputies with what may have been a toy gun in April was indicted Sept. 8 on three counts of aggravated assault, two of those against law enforcement officers. But due to a discrepancy, the indictment will have to be amended or nullified, and Vincent Ellis Jones’s case may go before a grand jury again.

Early on April 14 officers responded to a call on Chisholm Drive about a disturbance between a mother, Maria Jones, and her son, Vincent Jones.

When officers arrived, someone on the scene said a man had threatened the family with a firearm. Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said while officers on the scene were determining what was going on, the subject threatened the officers with the firearm as well.

Rushing reported that one of his deputies discharged his firearm at the man. The man was struck in the leg and was transported to University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The indictment states that Jones threatened his sister, Kimberly Williams, with a deadly weapon. The indictment also states that Jones was shooting at deputies Timothy Kees and Wade Hinshaw with a deadly weapon.

Rushing said Tuesday that his officers were not fired at by Jones, despite the indictment stating that they were.

When the discrepancy in the indictment was brought to the attention of District Attorney Dee Bates, Bates said that the indictment was incorrect and that it would either have to be amended or nullified. Jones would then have to be re-indicted. Bates said the DA’s office is working to correct the problem.

According to state law, he could be charged with felony simply assault even if he didn’t fire on officers.

Jones’s mother, Maria Jones, and sister, Kimberly Williams, said Jones is a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic and that the gun was fake, a plastic toy gun. Maria Jones said officers from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office had been to her residence multiple times before concerning her son and the effects of his disorder.

Maria Jones said that she and her daughter found out that the gun was not real after officers went into the house to arrest her son and discovered the gun was fake. She said that the responding officers acted within their rights with how they handled the situation.

“We’re happy nobody else was injured, including the officers,” Williams said “It could have been worse.”