Police review response to calls
By From staff reports
Published in News on January 25, 2013 1:46 PM
Members of the Goldsboro Police Department have answered one of the questions that surfaced when a body was found in between the homes located at 414 and 415 Seymour Drive early Thursday morning.
The man allegedly shot to death was 18-year-old Mulberry Street resident Shabazz Arness Woods.
But as of press time, investigators -- and now, city government officials -- have yet to answer just why it took seven hours to find the young man's body and why the PD's alleged response to reports of shots fired in the Seymour Homes area did not yield the discovery.
Residents of the Seymour Homes community said they are disturbed by the fact that it took so long to find the body -- that, as they put it, their two calls reporting what sounded like gun shots were seemingly dismissed.
But both Maj. Al King, commander of the GPD's investigations division, and Kim Best, the city's public information officer, said those questions, too, will soon be answered -- that a handwritten log and an audio tape of the alleged 911 calls have been obtained for the purpose of the investigation.
The News-Argus requested copies of the log and tape, but was denied as Wayne County Communications officials said they are now considered part of the homicide investigation.
Best, King and Police Chief Jeff Stewart, however, reviewed the tape this morning and released the following information:
At 11:30 Wednesday evening, a 911 call reporting shots fired at Courtyard, the former name for the Day Circle housing community, was received. Two GPD units were dispatched -- a lead officer and a backup unit.
While en route to Day Circle, a second 911 call came in reporting shots fired behind 415 Seymour Drive, the place where Woods was found Thursday morning. The two units split and went to both locations, but were given no specifics, King said.
Then, as officers were investigating their respective locations, a third call came in reporting gunfire on Franklin Street. At this point, King said, the officers began operating under the assumption that they were dealing with a shooter or shooters who were on the move, so they left Day Circle and Seymour Drive to follow up on the shots fired report at Franklin Street.
Then, they received a final call reporting shots fired at Seymour Homes, but when the officers returned to Seymour Drive, they found nothing and cleared the scene at 11:45 p.m.
The entire scenario, according to the log and recordings, unfolded within 15 minutes.