Staff Writer

JONESVILLE - For the second time in two years Jonesville's mayor is being investigated for an altercation involving a gun.

According to an incident report with the Union County Sheriff's Office, Ernest B. Moore Jr. allegedly pointed a gun at a Gaffney man at his home on June 9.

Union County Sheriff Howard Wells said the matter was originally turned over to his office by the Jonesville Police Department to avoid a possible conflict of interest. Wells said he decided to turn the investigation over to SLED to avoid any appearance of favoritism or bias. He said one of his employees is the spouse of the former mayor of Jonesville and he felt that having an outside agency conduct the investigation would be proper.

Wells said a SLED agent has been assigned to the case and has been in Jonesville taking statements.

The incident report states that Deputy Roger Hill was dispatched to Jonesville to meet with Officer Ken Bailey of the Jonesville Police Department, who told him there was a situation the deputy needed to investigate because the suspect was the mayor.

Hill then followed Bailey to Moore's residence on 202 Franklin St., where he spoke with Ronald Pride, who told him Moore had threatened to cut his throat. Pride told Hill that he hadn't said anything to Moore until after he was threatened. He said that when he did, Moore went into his house and came back out with a gun. Pride said he then went inside and called 911.

Bailey responded but was told to contact the sheriff's office. Hill asked Pride to write a statement concerning the events and he agreed to do so.

Hill then talked with Moore, who said his glass storm door was broken out on his house on June 5 and he knew that the person or persons that were in the car that let Pride out at his house were the ones that did it but that he could not prove it. He said the persons that let pride out then used an obscene gesture toward him. Moore said he told pride to tell his “family” to stop messing with him, at which point words of profanity were exchanged.

Moore told Hill that Pride went inside his house first and while he did go inside and retrieve his pistol he did so for protection and did not point it at Prode. He told Hill that he'd had problems with his neighbors before.

Hill then attempted to talk to the neighbors who said they heard “fussing” but nothing else. He then spoke with Bailey, who was the first to arrive on the scene. Bailey said he did not see a gun but found that Pride was upset. Hill then attempted to find a third party who was reportedly present during the altercation but was unable to locate them.

Moore said this morning that he acted properly and did not threaten anyone. He said that he was threatened and he retrieved his gun to protect himself. He said that at no time did he point his gun at Pride or anyone else. Moore said he got a no trespassing order issued against Pride and other members of his family, forbidding them to come on his property. He said he is the victim in this instance and that he will be exonerated.

Two years ago, SLED charged Moore with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after an altercation. Moore, who was then a newly-elected member of the Jonesville Town Council, was charged with hitting his teen-aged neighbor over the head with a pistol in April 2006.

The report filed at the time stated that there was an incident outside the home involving Bradley Murphy, 18, of Alman Street. Moore went into his house, got a pistol, came back out and hit Murphy in the head with the gun. The gun fired into the street. Moore said this morning that he went through pretrial intervention and the charge was dismissed.