Witnesses vanish after shootout Friday 12/2/2014
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 2, 2014
By Rupert Howell
Batesville Police Department’s weekend incident reports included information surrounding a Friday night shooting that included damaged vehicles, shell casings and few witnesses.
Patrolman Will Parish’s report stated that he responded to the Noble Street and Country Village Apartments incident to find a black Chevrolet Impala with a door open and what appeared to be a bullet hole.
“The vehicle was abandoned and the hole went through the driver’s side and out the rear passenger’s window and into another vehicle next to it,” Parish’s report stated.
After other officers joined in, Parish started looking for evidence and witnesses, according to the report which stated, “No one was willing to help or give any information.”
Parish included that a witness finally stated that four subjects around the car shot at someone on or near Noble Street who returned fire.
“Several empty shell casings were located (at a nearby Noble Street address).
“Officers also located an area beside the residence that appeared to be where several rounds had struck during the shoot out,” the report stated.
Also, the report stated that several empty casings and an unspent cartridge were located at Country Village Apartments.
Detective Jeremiah Brown interviewed one person who refused to cooperate. That subject consented to a gunshot residue test and was eliminated as a suspect, the report said.
The owner of the Chevrolet was located and came to the scene and stated that although it was his car, he had been in Oxford and left the car parked in that location.
The Chevrolet, a gold Mercury Marquis, a silver 2007 Buick LeSabre and a 1997 gray BMW were all struck by stray bullets.
“We checked the (nearby) residence but no one was located around the residence and no one would come to the door and speak with us,” the report concluded.