Published: May 03, 2008 06:57 pm            

Shooting suspect scales home, fails to avoid arrest

By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Six of the seven individuals sought in connection with the April 20 shooting in Lincoln Park have now been arrested and charged with aggravated assault.

Two more arrests were made this week, and while one of the suspects decided to turn himself in, the other went to extraordinary measures to avoid detention.

“On April 29, at approximately 5 p.m., Carlton Johnson was arrested from the roof of a house in the 800 block of Sheridan Street, where he was hiding from officers after they did a warrant service at that location,” said Detective Jason Price. “We have information that puts Johnson at the Lincoln Park shooting, but he was arrested for a different incident in which he is believed to have shot at a vehicle that contained one of the active participants in the park shooting.”

Chris Canady, who was also wanted in connection to the park shooting, turned himself in Wednesday to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department. Bonds for both Johnson and Canady were set at $50,000. Johnson was also charged with deadly conduct (bond set at $2,000) and for warrants out of Cherokee County Precinct 3 (bond set at $1,000).

“Of the seven people we have identified as being (allegedly) involved in the shooting, only Jason Roberts is still at large. We have some viable information that we are currently pursuing, and we believe he will be located and taken into custody,” Price said. “At this time, we don’t expect any more suspects to be named in the case.”

Price said the Lincoln Park shooting was the result of a disagreement between two groups of young men. Members of both sides of the squabble have now been arrested.

“After a superb job was done by the investigators to identify these suspects, patrol came in and did an excellent job to get these suspects in custody quickly. They did a great job of knowing who they were looking for and finding them,” Price said. “We are hopeful that that part of town will quiet down now that these arrests have been made. We hope this serves as notice to others who choose to act up, because they will be dealt with swiftly and forcefully.”



Burglary probe underway

The Police Department is also investigating two burglaries authorities said they believe — due to the proximity of the crime scenes — were committed by the same person.

“In the 300 block of Angelina Street, two homes that are under construction right next to each other were broken into. The northernmost home is a little further along in the construction process, and had numerous figures were taken,” Price said.

The back door, two toilets, two shower heads and numerous kitchen cabinet handles were taken. Price said entry was made into the first home through a rear window.

“Everything that was stolen had already been installed, not just sitting around in a box. The commodes were cleanly removed and uninstalled, with no signs of reckless damage,” he said. “At the southernmost home we found evidence of forced entry, but because fixtures hadn’t been added yet to the second home, nothing was observed to be missing.”

The first burglary was reported at 9 a.m. Thursday, while the second crime was discovered later that afternoon. The two houses are being built by two different contractors.

“I’ve heard of construction sites being hit by burglars for stuff, but this is the first time I have seen it happen around here. So that was a little weird,” Price said. “There was some forensic evidence collected at the scene which could very well produce a suspect in the case.”

        

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