{"id":39755,"date":"2026-06-03T14:47:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=39755"},"modified":"2026-06-03T14:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:48:08","slug":"report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>A rural Watson man has been arrested after a report of shots fired Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>55-year-old Michael W. Walker has been arrested on two counts of armed violence, two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, two counts of reckless discharge of a firearm, and two counts of aggravated assault.<\/p>\n<p>The Effingham County Sheriff&#8217;s Office 911 PSAP received a call at 9:09pm of shots fired along 1300th Street, just north of Watson. The caller reported two individuals operating ATVs on the roadway were shot at by a man. Sheriff&#8217;s deputies responded to the area, along with assisting officers from the Effingham Police Department. Within 15 minutes of receiving the call, units on scene were able to identify and detain Walker for further investigation.<\/p>\n<p>The Sheriff&#8217;s Office was assisted by the Effingham Police Department, the Altamont Police Department, and the Effingham County State&#8217;s Attorney&#8217;s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Walker remains in custody at Effingham County Jail, awaiting a pre-trial detention hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A rural Watson man has been arrested after a report of shots fired Tuesday night. 55-year-old Michael W. Walker has been arrested on two counts of armed violence, two counts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":39764,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T19:47:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-03T19:48:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1063\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"756\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Greg Sapp\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\"},\"headline\":\"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T19:47:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-03T19:48:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":171,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/\",\"name\":\"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-03T19:47:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-03T19:48:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"Effingham's News and Sports Leader\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg\",\"width\":1063,\"height\":756},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/local-news\\\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/premier-logo-v1.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":69,\"caption\":\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1\",\"name\":\"Greg Sapp\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.thexradio.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/greg_sapp\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","og_description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/","og_site_name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","article_published_time":"2026-06-03T19:47:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-06-03T19:48:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1063,"height":756,"url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Greg Sapp","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Greg Sapp","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/"},"author":{"name":"Greg Sapp","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1"},"headline":"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man","datePublished":"2026-06-03T19:47:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-03T19:48:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/"},"wordCount":171,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/","name":"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-03T19:47:57+00:00","dateModified":"2026-06-03T19:48:08+00:00","description":"Effingham's News and Sports Leader","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Walker-of-Watson.jpg","width":1063,"height":756},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/39755-report-of-shots-fired-leads-to-arrest-of-rural-watson-man\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Report of Shots Fired Leads to Arrest of Rural Watson Man"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/premier-logo-v1.png","width":272,"height":69,"caption":"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4a7a4f3418a551e6319888ef00a8f1","name":"Greg Sapp","url":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/author\/greg_sapp\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Greg Sapp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39765,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39755\/revisions\/39765"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}