By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph police worked three separate shootings in a one-week period.
St. Joseph Police Chief Chris Connally says none of the shootings are related.
“They all occurred in the city of St. Joseph,” Connally tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “That’s their relationship.”
Connally says that in each of the three shootings, the victims and the suspects knew each other. At least one of the victims refuses to press charges.
“What we’re saying is some of same things we see in the bigger cities is that a lot of people are settling things with firearms,” Connally says. “A lot of firearms out there. We have no training standards and sometimes people are settling these things in a way that is just not acceptable.”
On Friday, November 15th, 28-year-old Marcus Allen was shot and killed during an afternoon confrontation on Union Street near 23rd. Police believe the victim and suspect knew each other.
Three days later, on Monday the 8th, two people were shot and wounded coming out of the Dollar General at 17th and Messanie Street mid-morning. Both suffered what police described as non-life-threatening injuries. Police believe the shooter had been waiting in the store parking lot for the two to exit. Police are looking for a person of interest.
A 17-year-old St. Joseph man, Chance Kelley, recently died of wounds suffered in a shooting at the Oak Ridge Apartments in the 1200 block of Angelique Street on Thursday afternoon, the 11th.
Connally says he cannot touch on the details of the investigations, because it might affect the prosecution of the shootings.
“But some of the things that we are seeing, it’s not unlike what you see on TV or in the movies or pay-per-view,” Connally says. “The attitudes and stuff are exploited by Hollywood.”
Connally says the motive behind some of the shootings in St. Joseph aren’t as serious as some might assume.
“People’s reactions to being insulted,” according to Connally. “Those are things that people are seeing and so are we surprised that sometimes that’s emulated in society? I don’t think we are.”
Connally says drugs might have been involved in the three shootings, but not directly.