BRANDON M. STEPHENS BETH ANN PENLAND BILLY JOE PENLAND • • •

Three people are now charged with multiple felonies after an incident more than 10 days ago in which a gun was fired in a Madison tavern, missing a woman but striking the wall next to her.



The shooting suspect who local authorities had been searching for since Thursday, Oct. 10 was arrested early Tuesday morning when officers apprehended him while serving a search warrant at a residence on Wolf Run Road in Jefferson County. The occupants of the residence on Wolf Run also were arrested.



Brandon M. Stephens, 42, of Madison, was wanted in connection with a shooting at the Central Hotel & Tavern, 310 Mulberry St., Madison, in the early morning hours of Oct. 10. Stephens is accused of pointing a gun and firing a bullet in the bar that narrowly missed Kristen Croxton who, according to a probable cause affidavit, had just informed Stephens that she was ending their romantic relationship.



Croxton and another witness said after Croxton told Stephens they were breaking up, he stood up and pulled a handgun from his waistband area and pointed it at her head. She turned her head away from the gun just as he fired the weapon and the bullet missed her but struck the wall next to her.



Madison Police Lt. Season Jackson later found a bullet hole in an electric sign and in the wall behind the sign at the bar.



Madison Det. Ricky Harris reviewed video surveillance at the bar that showed Stephens point a handgun at Croxton’s head and the muzzle raise approximately an inch as he fired the gun with the bullet missing Croxton. The shell casing was recovered at the bar.



Stephens exited the tavern and left in a Chrysler New Yorker.



Police searched for him over the next 10 days. They sought help finding Stephens in both the news media and on social media — noting that he should be considered armed and dangerous — and followed leads both in Indiana and Kentucky until Madison Police received an anonymous tip on Monday, Oct. 21 that Stephens was staying with a man and woman named Billy and Beth in the China area of Jefferson County.



Police were able to corroborate that information and obtain a search warrant for the residence of Billy Joe and Beth Ann Penland of 5502 Wolf Run Road.



In addition, police were aware that Billy Penland apparently tried to recover Stephens’ car at a local towing service after police had found the vehicle and impounded it pursuant to a search warrant.



Acting on that information, and the search warrant, a team of Madison Police Department Officers, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputies, Madison detectives, Police Chief Jeremey Perkins and Assistant Chief Ben McKay executed the search warrant at 2:26 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the Penland’s mobile home on Wolf Run Road just off Manville Hill Road.



Officers received no response from inside the residence after loudly knocking and eventually forced the door to find Stephens and the Penlands inside.



Stephens was arrested without incident on felony charges of attempted murder and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon.



Beth Penland was interviewed by police and told them she was contacted by Stephens’ sister, Heidi Sullivan. Penland said Sulllivan told her Stephens “had some troubles” and “needed a place to stay for a few days.”



Beth Penland also told police she had later learned of Stephens’ arrest warrant from a family member who saw a posting on Facebook. She said she confronted him and he told her he was going to surrender to police after retrieving his car and that he had a friend in the sheriff’s department that he would call to come pick him up.



Stephens also told police he had intended to turn himself in to the sheriff’s department once he had recovered the car, but the officer he knew did not answer his phone. He also said he did not think Billy or Beth Penland knew there was a warrant pending for his arrest.



During a search of the Penland home, police recovered a handgun from a nightstand next to where the Penlands were in bed. Billy Penland, who has previous felony convictions for breaking and entering, arson and prison escape, all in North Carolina, is unable to possess a weapon based on his status as a convicted felon. Beth Penland told police the firearm belonged to her.



Police charged Billy Joe Penland, 47, with possession of a firearm by a serious violent offender, a Level 4 felony and assisting a criminal, a Level 5 felony. Beth Ann Penland, 49, is charged with aiding, inducing or causing an offense (possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon), a Level 4 felony; and assisting a criminal, a Level 5 felony.



