By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Atmore police investigators are at a standstill as they try to sort out the circumstances surrounding the January 10 shooting at the Fast Lane convenience store on Jack Springs Road.
APD detectives reportedly have all the physical evidence they need on which to build their case. They just can’t get any cooperation from the intended targets of at least five shots that were fired during the incident.
“The victims of the Fast Lane case have been uncooperative and failed to show up for interviews,” Police Chief Chuck Brooks said.
Police were sent to the store around 5:39 p.m. after receiving a report of shots fired.
Brooks said after the shooting that officers arrived to find that a vehicle in which a male and female were riding was hit once by a bullet, although five shell casings were discovered in the store parking lot.
Reports show that gunfire erupted after a verbal altercation between the two people in the vehicle and another male-female couple who were leaving the store.
Another individual, believed to have been a passenger in the second couple’s vehicle, reportedly stepped out of the car and opened fire at the first couple’s vehicle before fleeing on foot.
Refusal of the intended targets to follow through on their initial complaint has frustrated police and put their probe into the shooting on hold.
“It’s hard to proceed with a criminal case when the victims refuse to cooperate with law enforcement,” Brooks said.