Accused Piggly Wiggly Shooter Pleads Not Guilty

June 2, 2011

The Atmore man accused of shooting  another man outside the Davisville Piggly Wiggly on mothers day has pleaded not guilty.

Gary Winston Smith, 57, entered the plea in Escambia County Circuit Court 0n a felony charge of aggravated battery with a firearm. He’s accused of the of the May 8 shooting of Garland Rodney Johnson, 45, of Century.

Smith is due to appear in court again before Judge Jan Shackelford in late July.

The whole incident, authorities said, was over a woman allegedly seeing both men. For for information about the shooting and a photo gallery from the scene, click here.

Pictured top: A North Escambia man was shot just outside the Piggly Wiggly on Highway 97 in Davisville on May 8. Pictured inset: This NorthEscambia.com exclusive photo shows Gary Winston Smith of Atmore being arrested in connection with the shooting. Pictured below: The victim, Garland Rodney Johnson of Century, was transported by LifeFlight to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Comments

7 Responses to “Accused Piggly Wiggly Shooter Pleads Not Guilty”

  1. Friend on June 2nd, 2011 4:42 pm

    I know all three people involved in this. In my opinion, and many others, Gary is not guilty. He had been threatened several times and was followed to the “Pig” that day. Rodney went there with the intent to harm. Gary did not. He was protecting himself. As for Rodney and his girlfriend who I will not mention her name, Rodney is stupid for going after someone that HIS girlfriend slept with. She is at fault. Before you make assumptions about Gary, please remember, you don’t know these people and the circumstances behind all this. You hear all the time people saying they would take a bullet for someone. But you better believe, I would never take a bullet because I was jealous that my partner had been sleeping with someone else. Wrong way to take a bullet.

  2. smith&wesson on June 2nd, 2011 4:38 pm

    By what i read in the previous story about this incident, Mr. Smith was defending himself plain and simple. Mr. Johnson left a bar and followed Mr. Smith to the store and approached him in a threating way. I say NOT GUILTY

  3. Bent Ears Audio Laboratories on June 2nd, 2011 4:21 pm

    To Jim W: That’s “lose, lose”. “LOOSE” means not tight – as in “my shoes are too loose.”

    As to the shooting, it seems like the woman was playing the guys against each other and she should be charged, too. If it wasn’t for her none of this would have happened.

  4. JIM W on June 2nd, 2011 3:13 pm

    He has lost all the way around. He won’t have to worry about his girlfriend where he is going. Instead he may have to worry about becoming a girlfriend! This whole thing is just so not worth it. Sounds to me like both of the guys got played at the same time. Certainly not worth trying to kill someone over. People need to figure out that if the person they are seeing will do that to someone they will do it to you. Even if you marry them it will happen again so it is a loose, loose situation before you start.

  5. Duke of Wabeek on June 2nd, 2011 3:02 pm

    Seems like old times on the line, times best forgotten.

  6. 429SCJ on June 2nd, 2011 5:36 am

    Passion is alive and well in the north end., glad no one was killed.

  7. joe on June 2nd, 2011 12:27 am

    of course he entered a plea of not guilty, it was not him, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe it was his evil twin, or the eye witnesses are all wrong about what they saw…………
    Give me a break, he is going away for quite some time.