MORNING GUN BATTLE
Mid-morning shootout leaves two men injured >>
TRENTON >> Gunfire from a mid-morning shootout injured two men Tuesday, leaving a trail of shell casings and baffling investigators who continue to search for a tossed weapon, while trying to determine whether both victims participated in the violence.
Both men suffered nonlife-threatening injuries, according to investigators who say one victim’s involvement in the shootout remains unknown. Police, though, are certain a 31-year-old victim returned fire on a gunman who approached his car on foot.
“At least 21 rounds were fired,” Lt. Darren Zappley said. “One victim definitely returned fire and now the search is on for the weapon.”
The firefight started around 10 a.m. in the Wilbur section of the city.
“There was a series of shots fired in three different places according to ShotSpotter,” Zappley said.
Officials say a gunman opened fire on a man in a car near Tioga Street, forcing the victim to flee with the vehicle toward the intersection of Walnut Avenue and Chambers Street.
Officials believe the man drove in reverse from Tioga
until he reached a safe distance, then jumped out of the car and returned fire on his assailant.
The man then jumped back in his Buick, sped to East State Street and barreled over a fire hydrant, before crashing into a fence in the 500 block where he fled the car on foot and collapsed a short distance away.
“There’s a whole mess of blood on the car he was driving,” Zappley said.
The driver was rushed to the hospital by medics to treat a gunshot wound to his arm.
Witnesses later told police
they saw the driver with a handgun, but after searching rooftops, bushes and tall grass along East State Street, police still had not recovered the weapon by press time Tuesday evening, leaving some investigators questioning whether someone scooped up the gun without law enforcement noticing.
“We don’t know what he did with the gun,” Zappley said.
Officials say a 35-yearold man arrived at the hospital by private means to treat a bullet graze wound to the arm, but it’s unclear whether that victim was involved in the gun battle. “We don’t know if that guy was the original shooter or an innocent bystander,” Zappley said. Both victims were listed in stable condition at press time and the shooting remains under investigation, with police canvassing the Wilbur section for the gun, witnesses and cameras that may have captured the incident.