Walmart murder suspect facing new charge
A Kosciusko man charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a Starkville optometrist will have another court date, along with an additional charge added to his case.
During 41-year-old Tommy Chisholm’s initial appearance in Starkville Municipal Court on Thursday, City Prosecutor Caroline Moore read an additional charge of aggravated assault.
Moore said a bullet shot from Chisholm’s 9 mm pistol went through the jacket of another woman in the store.
Municipal Court Judge Rodney Faver set the bond for aggravated assault at $100,000. Aggravated assault carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Faver appointed Starkville attorney Mark Williamson to represent Chisholm.
Chisholm will have the opportunity to hire a different lawyer if he chooses.
Williamson declined to comment on the case at this time.
Chisholm is charged with capital murder after investigators and witnesses claim he followed his “on-again, off-again” girlfriend Dr. Shauna Witt into the Walmart Supercenter on Highway 12, where he shot her twice.
Shortly after the shooting, Witt died from her wounds at OCH Regional Medical Center in Starkville.
Witt was currently working at her optometry practice located
in the front of the store at the time of the shooting.
Officers on Saturday responded to a call of shots fired at the Walmart and when they arrived around 9:30 a.m., they encountered Chisholm, who was armed with a handgun.
After a brief struggle, SPD officers detained Chisholm and took him into custody.
Before being arrested for murder, Chisholm was out on a $5,000 bond for felony malicious mischief stemming from an incident involving Witt in Kosciusko.
KPD Chief Herbert Dew confirmed to the Starkville Daily News Witt reported Chisholm was destroying her property by burning her clothes.
The arrest was made on Dec. 12, 2017.
Chisholm was also involved in another incident in April 2012, where Madison County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a welfare concern reported by Chisholm’s mother.
Madison County Chief Deputy Jeremy Williams said Chisholm barricaded himself in his home and was in a standoff for about four to five hours until they were able to apprehend him.
He was then transported to a nearby hospital for mental and medical evaluation. Williams said no arrest was made.
Chisholm will have his next Municipal Court date on Jan. 22 at 6 p.m.