FAYETTEVILLE — No one was injured after multiple gunshots were fired Tuesday night on the west side of town, and investigators were trying to fill in the details Wednesday.
Calls started pouring in to police about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday from near the intersection of North Chickadee Avenue and West Bluebird Street, according to police records. The neighborhood is just north of West Wedington Drive.
Children were playing in the streets when at least two shots were fired and at least two men ran through several yards, according to police reports. Officers found several shell casings at the scene.
No one was arrested as of Wednesday afternoon and details were sketchy, Sgt. Craig Stout said. Investigators were interviewing witnesses again and at least one person who might be connected to the incident Wednesday, he said.
"We have multiple witness statements, and sometimes they kind of conflict," Stout said, adding descriptions of the suspects and a vehicle leaving the scene were vague. "It's kind of a convoluted mess."
One-story duplexes line the neighborhood's usually quiet streets. Wednesday afternoon children were playing basketball and shouting with laughter under a bright sun and a chilly breeze.
Ranny Loren was watching over his son and other children in front of his house on Bluebird. He said he wasn't home when the shootings happened but heard about them from his family. The men ran up and down Bluebird, and at least one looked like he was firing into the air as a warning, they told him.
"They said it took a long time for the police to arrive," Loren added. "That's why they don't know what happened."
Down the street at the corner of North Carriage Way, Ronald Hutchins was smoking a cigarette outside his front door. He said he was doing the same thing when the shots rang out. He heard only two shots, he said, despite talk of a dozen or more.
"That's all I heard: pow-pow," he said. "People and cars were running this way like crazy, that's all I know. Trying to get out of the neighborhood."
Stout said investigators weren't confident enough to suggest a motive for the shootings. It also was unclear if the shooters were from the neighborhood.
NW News on 03/13/2014