News
Police continue shooting probe
No arrests yet, victim still hospitalized
By Bob Belcher
Daily Sun
Corsicana Police are continuing their investigation into a Tuesday night shooting at an apartment complex on South 42nd Street that left a 21-year-old Navarro College student hospitalized suffering from gunshot wounds.
No arrests had been made in the case as of Wednesday, according to Randy Bratton, police chief.
Bratton clarified preliminary reports given to media by officers Tuesday night, saying that while they have interviewed several individuals, no one has been charged with any crime in connection with the shooting, and said the motive for the shooting was still not clear.
“We don’t have anything concrete as to a motive,” Bratton said Wednesday. “We are receiving information about possible motives, but nothing is concrete.”
Police were called to the apartment location in the 600 block of South 42nd Street at 6:33 p.m. Tuesday after a report of shots fired and a possible shooting victim.
Jeremiah Blair, 21, was found in the stairwell of the complex, suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken by ambulance to Navarro Regional Hospital, then transported by air ambulance to Parkland Hospital in Dallas for treatment. Bratton described Blair’s injuries as “serious, but at this point do not appear to be life-threatening.”
Because of the proximity of the shooting to the Navarro College campus, college authorities activated the “WatchDog Alert System,” sending text, e-mail and phone messages to college students and staff, advising them of a possible threat of a “gun on campus.” The college went into “lockdown” for several hours, ending at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Campus police officers escorted night students from classrooms to their vehicles or dorm rooms as a safety precaution following the incident.
Bratton said Wednesday he doesn’t believe that any further threat exists for the campus as a result of Tuesday’s incident.
“We don’t have any intelligence that leads us to believe that,” he added.
Bratton praised college officials for their quick reaction as events unfolded Tuesday after the shooting, activating the college’s alert system to warn students and staff of a possible danger.
“The campus acted extremely well, and the Navarro College Police assisted us very well,” he said.
“This system was put in place to help protect our students and staff,” Donna Parish, director of marketing and public information for Navarro College said in a posting on the college Web site. “Anytime we feel our students and staff are in danger, we will activate the system. When something like this happens, time is of the essence, and we’d rather make certain we’re doing everything in our power to keep people safe than to hesitate.”
The college had activated the system just a day earlier, when an staff member thought they had spotted a weapon in a vehicle parked in the dorm area Monday afternoon. That report turned out to be false.
“Right now, we want to stress to everyone that the campus is safe,” Parish added.
Sgt. Paul Jock of the Criminal Investigations Unit is leading the investigation and detectives are in the process of pursuing leads and reviewing potential evidence, Bratton said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Jock at (903) 654-4911.
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Bob Belcher may be reached via e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com. Want to “Soundoff” on this story? E-mail: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com.
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