Mississippi man set to plead guilty in gun assault on Gulfport mail carrier
A Mississippi man is set to plead guilty Friday to a federal charge for threatening a mail carrier with a gun and shooting at the carrier’s postal vehicle.
Rusty S. Holloway pointed a gun at a mail carrier’s head during an encounter In October 2022 outside a home on Andy Drive in Gulfport, according to an affidavit from postal inspector Doug Wilson. The area is not far from U.S. 49 and Flat Branch Road around the Orange Grove community of Gulfport.
Initially arrested on a federal charge for assaulting a federal employee, Holloway is now set to plead guilty in federal court in Gulfport to brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime. The charge carries a sentence of seven years to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.
In the criminal affidavit, the postal inspector said the carrier was delivering mail when Holloway walked up to the truck and asked that the carrier place any mail in Rich or Richard Holloway’s name in the mailbox.
In response, the affidavit said, the carrier said, “Yes sir. No problem.”
Then, Holloway is accused of pulling out his .40 caliber handgun, placing the gun one inch from the front of the carrier’s forehead, and saying, “I said, did you (expletive) hear me?
Holloway lowered the gun, and the carrier drove off, the records say.
As the carrier drove away, she said she heard a gunshot, and then a bullet strike the back of her postal vehicle. Had it not been for a wall brace in the back of the truck, the mail carrier said she would have likely been hit.
In the aftermath of the incident, Dwayne Martin, public information officer for the area’s postal inspectors, said the driver was unharmed.
“We have two main goals: protect employees and then protect the mail from misuse,” he said after the initial arrest. “That takes precedence over anything else.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones is prosecuting the case.
Attorney Joseph Hollomon is representing Holloway.
