Billings Arrested After Shooting on Mulatto Mountain Road

By Joel Frady

A shooting on Mulatto Mountain Road in West Jefferson almost turned fatal on the night of Thursday, May 21,

when the 911 Center received a call at approximately 11:42 p.m. regarding "shots being fire into an occupied dwelling," said Ashe County Sheriff James Williams.

Williams said that Sheriff's deputies en route to the residence of Judy and Marlon Hess "received information from dispatchers that the suspect was still outside with the weapon and they believed he might have had his wife and children with him at the time."

Due to the threat of violence, Williams said they called in the Search, Entry and Recovery Team (SERT).

"We called the SERT team out" because the situation of the suspect with a weapon and other people around. "We couldn't send any officers, [so] we just ended the call immediately because [the suspect] might have opened fire on officers. So for the officer's safety and the safety of the other people in the area, we called the SERT team out.

"They subsequently went to that residence, walked into the residence, cleared the scene and determined that the suspect was no longer there," Williams said. After the scene was cleared, authorities interviewed the parties involved.

After the interviews, the Sheriff's Department issued a warrant for Allen Harold Billings, a 25-year-old resident of Lansing. According to Williams, the incident stemmed from "an ongoing ill-will" between Billings, the son of Judy Hess, and her husband, Marlon Hess.

"There have been threats made before to kill Mr. Hess and his family," said Williams.

Billings was arrested on Friday, May 22, by the Sheriff's Department and charged with: four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, which Williams said was "because there were four people inside the Hess residence;" one count of discharging a weapon into occupied property; and communicating threats.

"They're very lucky that we didn't have a murder," Williams said about the incident. He noted that there were reportedly several shots fired, but that only one actually hit the residence.

"The bullet that went through apparently was a high-powered rifle round," he said. "It went through the bedroom wall and broke a lamp beside the bed." Williams noted that Judy Hess "received a cut from the flying glass" when the bullet hit the lamp, but that the bullet "exited out the other wall."

As of Tuesday, June 2, Billings is still in custody at the Ashe County Jail. He is being held on a $500 secured bond for the communicating threats charge, a $10,000 secured bond for the discharging a weapon charge and a $15,000 secured bond for the four assault with a deadly weapon charges for a total secured bond of $25,500.