LPD files charges in weekend shooting

By Jason Niblett, newseditor@laurelleadercall.com and Eloria Newell James, community@leadercall.com

May 13, 2008 10:31 am

— The Laurel Police Department has filed charges against a Smith County man after a Saturday afternoon shooting and officials are continuing to search for a suspect in an early Saturday morning shooting, citing a promise to local residents that violence will not be tolerated.
An unidentified woman was shot several times in the 1300 block of Ferrell Street Saturday afternoon. She was transported to South Central Regional Medical Center and released on Sunday, Detective Earl Reed said.
With the assistance of the Raleigh Police Department and the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, investigators were able to charge Robert L. McLemore, 30, of 306 Corley Avenue in Raleigh, with aggravated assault. Reed said another person was with McLemore, but was not charged in connection with the shooting.
“I want to thank those agencies for helping us out on this case,” Reed said.
When asked by the Leader-Call if this shooting was gang related, Reed said this had nothing to do with organized activity.
“This had nothing to do with gangs,” he said.
In a separate incident, LPD Detective Kevin Flynn said Laurel Police are continuing to investigate a Saturday morning shooting on West Drive.
Flynn said about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Officer Eddie Pitts responded to a call of shots fired at a trailer park on West Drive across from the ball field.
“We received reports of shots fired from a red Mustang driven by a white male,” Flynn explained. “Officer Pitts talked to witnesses who was cutting grass and called it in to 9-1-1.”
Flynn said occupants of the trailer were not at home at the time of the shooting.
Also, following some investigation, Flynn said, officers were unable to find any bullet holes or shell casings.
Referring to recent shootings, Reed said the Laurel Police Department will not tolerate this sort of behavior from anybody.
“We are not going to tolerate these violent crimes such as this (Ferrell Street) shooting,” Reed said. “We’ll be doing road blocks and we’re going to talk with suspicious persons. We’ll be doing more patrols in marked and unmarked vehicles.”
Officials urged anyone with information about the West Drive incident or any crime in the city to contact the Laurel Police Department’s investigation division at 601-425-4711 or Crimestoppers at 601-428-STOP.

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