Police eyeing weekend shootings
By John Joyce
Published in News on July 9, 2013 1:46 PM
Aside from the murder on West Walnut Street Saturday night, at least three other shootings surrounded the Fourth of July holiday in Goldsboro.
Goldsboro police said Monday the shootings might or might not be connected, but none of them were relevant to the murder.
"They could be related amongst themselves, but no, not the murder," Sgt. Dwayne Dean said.
Tyree Louis Simmons, 23, of 317 Hollowell St., was shot and killed Saturday night outside of 617 W. Walnut St.
Stevie Denardo Simmons, 41, whom police say was an acquaintance of but not related to the victim, was charged with the murder.
Despite the arrest, the investigation into the Simmons murder remains open.
Three other shootings occurred between July 3 and 7.
Goldsboro police Chief Jeff Stewart was hesitant to say whether any of the three shootings were connected, saying there was no evidence to support the claim, but he also said nothing has been ruled out.
In two of the cases, men with west side addresses were shot on the south side of town. Both victims were wounded in the leg.
Just after 10:15 p.m. Friday, Jaime Antonio Johnson, 42, of 305 W. Walnut St., was shot in the leg outside a residence at 1512 S. Slocumb St.
On July 3, Tyron Kasheem Jones, 23, of 330 W. Pine St., was shot, also in the leg, outside Headquarters Barbershop at 533 E. Ash St. at about 4 p.m.
The third shooting, Sunday, did not result in injury, but is being investigated by Goldsboro police nonetheless.
Ivan Darden, 25, and Tomis Cox, 21, were shot at Sunday at about 4 p.m. while parked in a car outside the Beestown Grocery located at 905 S. Slocumb St.
Darden allegedly returned fire, but no one was hit.
The shootout Sunday was assigned to investigators first thing Monday morning, according to police. That investigation is in the preliminary stages.
Stewart said the two days out of the year shootings are most likely to occur are July 4th and New Year's Eve.
He said there was no elevation in his department's level of concern about the recent spike in shootings because, although break-ins are on the rise, the number of homicides is down significantly from this time last year.
Stewart reiterated that Saturday's murder was a separate issue entirely.
"There were definitely no gangs or drugs involved," Stewart said.
He categorized the altercation that led to the fatal shooting as "purely domestic."