The Elberta Police Department issued a statement Monday morning to assure the residents of the town that the police staff will not stop in the wake of Police Chief Mickey Pledger’s arrest on Friday.

“Let me begin by saying the police department and its’ employees are saddened at the recent events that have unfolded regarding Chief Pledger,” Interim Police Chief Julie Joyner said. “Our officers are working their shifts and answering the calls of the citizens and we will continue to do so.”

Joyner said the department would not make any comments about the ongoing investigation by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, but she did say she was “still in a little shock” over the news.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office announced on Friday that Pledger was arrested and charged with firing into an occupied building, filing a false police report and tampering with evidence.

Pledger filed a report that on Feb. 13 a man shot at him outside the Elberta Police Department. Pledger claims he was looking for a file in his vehicle when he spotted a man near the back of the building. Pledger said in the report that when he approached the man, a single shot was fired. Pledger said he fired a shot in return, but the suspect fled the scene on foot.

According to a released statement by the sheriff’s office, Pledger failed a polygraph exam and then admitted to firing his backup .38 caliber weapon into his office window. He then said he fired his duty .40 caliber Sig Sauer weapon into the ground, the release stated.

The release stated that Pledger called investigators with the sheriff’s office a few days after the incident and told them he had located a bullet casing across the street from the building which he believed was the casing of the shot fired in his direction. Pledger admitted that he planted the shell casing in order to bolster his previous story, the release stated.

Elberta Mayor Marvin Williams said he does not know why Pledger filed the false report or if the full story will ever be told.

Williams said when the shot was fired through the window of Pledger’s office, officer Brandon Thompson was in the building doing paperwork.

Williams also said the city would “take it on the slow side” in determining the new police chief.

“It’s going to take as long as it needs to take,” he said. “We’re moving forward, but we’re putting a process together.”