Sunday afternoon shooting investigated as murder

Published 5:17 pm Sunday, October 13, 2013

DAILY LEADER / RACHEL EIDE Crime scene tape marks the site of a shooting that occurred Sunday afternoon at the corner of Monticello Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

DAILY LEADER / RACHEL EIDE / Crime scene tape marks the site of a shooting that occurred Sunday afternoon at the corner of Monticello Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

A shooting that occurred at the intersection of East Monticello Street and North Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Sunday afternoon is under investigation at this time as a murder, according to Brookhaven Chief of Police Bobby Bell.

Bell said police are looking at two suspects in the murder but would not release their names.

“We are interviewing a number of people at this time,” said Bell.

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Bell also said an innocent victim stopped in her car at the stop sign on Martin Luther King Drive was struck by a bullet during the shooting and injured.

The shooting occurred in a grassy area next to a vacant building on the north side of East Monticello Street in a neighborhood known as Startown. The Brookhaven Police Department received the call at 1:24 p.m. Sunday and is handling the investigation.

Police also were called, along with sheriff’s deputies for backup, to King’s Daughters Medical Center following the shooting for crowd control.

While law officers – who later included a state trooper as well as BPD and sheriff’s officers – were gathered outside the emergency room along with a crowd of people, the innocent victim of the shooting, who was conscious and appeared alert, was wheeled on a gurney from an ambulance to a helicopter for transfer.

Further details were not available at this time while the investigation continues.