Hearing scheduled for woman charged with firing at cops

Friday, April 22, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

A 21-year-old woman who allegedly shot at police while her fugitive boyfriend led Metro officers on a high-speed chase waived her preliminary hearing on Thursday.

April Jones is scheduled for arraignment on May 2 before District Judge Lee Gates on eight counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count each of conspiracy to commit murder and aiming a gun at an officer.

Jones' boyfriend is 31-year-old Louisiana murder suspect Kentro Taylor, who was allegedly driving the car during the chase. He has pleaded not guilty to the same charges Jones is facing and is scheduled for trial before Gates on May 17.

If both were convicted on all charges Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Coumou has said they face prison time that would run well into their "senior years."

Police said that during surveillance on Taylor, they saw him and two women leave a residence in a car and called nearby officers to stop them. When police tried to pull over Taylor, he sped away, police said.

As they followed, Jones allegedly began shooting at police and their cars from the passenger window with an AR-15 assault rifle, police said. No officers were injured.

The chase ended in traffic at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Bonanza Road, where police arrested Taylor and Jones. The third passenger was not charged with any crimes, police said.

Taylor is the last of five men placed in custody in connection with the Sept. 9 killing of 26-year-old Muhammad Price in Baton Rouge, La. Price was kidnapped, tied up and beaten until information about drugs or money was gained, according to Baton Rouge police.

Taylor and the three other men then allegedly took Price with them to two other locations where the suspects committed robberies, police said.