West Palm-area man accused of shooting at his 1-year-old son
Authorities: Bullets hit car with boy’s mother also inside.
WESTPALMBEACH — When the mother of his 1-year-old child told him on Wednesday not to slam the car door, Jeffrey Pugh Jr. pulled out a gun and fired multiple rounds toward the woman and the child, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office records.
Pugh, 27, was arrested on attempted murder, aggravated assault, shooting and weapons-related charges.
During a bond hearing Thursday morning, Pugh’s attorney stressed that the Sheriff ’s Office report indicates Pugh shot toward the car, not at the woman or child.
“It’s splitting hairs, but it is an important difference when you’re looking at what his intentions were,” the attorney told Judge Ted Booras.
Booras still ordered Pugh to remain in the Palm Beach County Jail without the possibility of posting bail as his case moves through the court system.
The mother of Pugh’s 1-year-old told investigators she came to pick up the child at about 1 p.m. Wednesday from Pugh’s home on Spafford Avenue, just outside the West Palm Beach city limits.
He buckled the child in her car, then slammed the door, she said. She told Pugh not to shut the door so forcefully, which reportedly “infuriated” Pugh.
She said he pulled out a gun, hit it on the hood of her car and pointed it at the windshield.
Pugh reportedly yelled “I’ll kill you, (expletive)” and shot toward her car.
Authorities found two bullet holes in the hood of the woman’s car. The bullets jammed behind the steering wheel and the radio, records state.
The woman drove away and called 911.
When deputies arrived at the home they saw Pugh, a woman and two children pulling out of the driveway in a truck.
Pugh denied firing a gun and said he shot Roman Candles, a type of firework, because it was the Fourth of July.
He later said he had a gun with him when the woman came to pick up their son, but would not say where it was.
In Pugh’s arrest report a deputy wrote: “He not only showed complete disregard for human life, but disregard for his own son’s life.”