A Charleston man who was shot on the West Side early Sunday morning remains in the hospital in stable condition suffering broken leg.
Chief of Detectives Lt. Steve Cooper says Danny Dickerson, 21, was shot at the corner of Glenwood Ave and Grant Street around midnight Sunday. Cooper says at this point Dickerson is refusing to cooperate with police.
“The victim was very blunt with us when he told us he didn’t have any interest in assisting us in solving this crime. The victim’s hat was located at the scene of the crime and that hat contained crack cocaine,” Cooper said during a Monday media briefing.
Since Dickerson isn’t talking and a witness, a friend of Dickerson’s, has refused to cooperate as well, Cooper says they’re hoping to get some assistance from those who live in the neighborhood.
“We want to let the community know we’re beefing up our presence down there, looking for additional evidence, trying to make contact with any potential witnesses,” Cooper said.
The crime was not an isolated incident according to Cooper. They’re seeing more and more violence in that area.
“We don’t have a random shooting here. What we have is another situation where a victim of violent crime was engaged in criminal activity,” Cooper said.
Investigators worry that next time it could be an innocent bystander that becomes the victim.
“When you have the criminal element being active in one particular area, it increases the number of incidents, which increases the odds that an innocent person could be hurt,” Cooper said.
The city’s bike unit as well as regular patrols are constantly moving through that area. It’s also part of the Drug Market Intervention Initiative or DMI. Cooper says they’ve added extra patrols to the area.
He stresses if you have information about the shooting, call police. Information is kept confidential.