Shots were fired during a domestic disturbance Friday evening, but no one was hit by any of the bullets in the incident, said Picayune Police Public Information Officer Capt. Chad Dorn.

Dorn said the incident was called into the department at about 6:17 p.m. and took place at 1600 Circle Drive.

Officers arrived on scene to find that the suspect, Joseph Randy Matherne, 31, of 1600 Circle Dr., Apt. 6, was inside his apartment, with a firearm in his possession. Matherne was taken into custody without incident after the apartment was surrounded and he was convinced to come out and get on the ground, Dorn said.

Investigation and witness and victim statements showed that prior to the 911 call, Matherne and his live-in girlfriend, 22-year-old Emily Frierson, had engaged in a fight, that she said included Matherne striking her in the face several times, Dorn said.

Frierson left the apartment after the fight and called her brother, 28-year-old Chris Frierson of McNeill, and went to find help at a neighboring home, Dorn said. When Chris Frierson arrived at the home and confronted Matherne about the fight, they engaged in a physical altercation, Dorn said. Matherne went into the apartment to get a gun, Emily Frierson told investigators, the public information officer said. Dorn said that when Emily Frierson warned her brother that Matherne was coming back with a gun, he found cover behind some nearby bushes.

Dorn said the investigation showed that Matherne came out of the apartment with a .45 caliber handgun and fired it several times into Chris Frierson’s vehicle, thinking he was inside. In all, 11 shots were fired into the vehicle’s passenger side and windshield, but no one was injured, Dorn said.

Matherne was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault domestic violence, discharging a firearm in the city limits and felony malicious mischief for the damage done to the vehicle, Dorn said.