n Suspect charged and in custody

By Lisa Voyles

Chickasaw Journal

HOUSTON - A local man was reported shot and killed on Tuesday, March 31 and a suspect was apprehended on the scene by the Chickasaw County Sheriff's department.

"We received a 911 call about a dispute on Simpson Bridge Road," said Chief Deputy James Meyers. "We responded and found one man shot and another man there."

Curtis Robertson was taken into custody and charged with murder. His initial appearance with Judge Garry Turner was held Friday at which time Turner did not set a bond.

"He said he would look at it this week and determine whether or not to set bond," Meyers said.

The victim, Johnny Smith, was pronounced dead on the scene and Meyers said that the altercation was apparently over a property dispute. Smith's body was sent for autopsy and the cause of death was recorded as multiple gunshot wounds. Funeral services were held Friday, April 3.

Smith's death is the first murder recorded in Chickasaw County in two years.

"We don't even average one a year," Meyers said. "Basically our crime rate is not bad. We don't have much violent crime at all."

Robertson will appear in Justice Court in April and has retained an attorney.