Longview Shooting Witness Jailed with Man He Identified

LONGVIEW — The key witness in a Longview shooting death now is housed in the Gregg County Jail along with the man charged in the crime. That’s according to KETK and the Longview News-Journal. Larry Pleasant, 23, of Longview, who gave a statement to police in February that led to the arrest of another Longview man in a fatal gas station shooting, was arrested Monday and accused of violating his probation. Christian Sibley was charged with murder in April in connection to the February shooting of Jerrad Hunt at a store on Estes Parkway. Police said it was Pleasant who drove Hunt to Good Shepherd Medical Center after the shooting, and Hunt died there 20 days later. Sibley has remained in the jail on $270,000 bond since April 27, charged with murder and escape from custody.

Gregg County sheriff’s deputies arrested Pleasant on violation of probation charges in a 2013 assault. On Feb. 3, Hunt and Pleasant were seen on surveillance video leaving the store when Sibley followed the pair into the parking lot. Hunt and Sibley got into an altercation, and during the scuffle, Hunt was shot in the stomach.