Local & State Headlines

Man arrested in motel shooting

• The victim of an early morning shooting underwent surgery Tuesday, police officials say.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — A Tallahassee man has been jailed, charged with shooting a man he believed was tampering with his car outside an Albany motel Tuesday morning, police officials say.

Charlie Henderson, 19, was shot in the arm and the chest after fleeing a parking lot near Comfort Suites off Dawson Road in his 1994 Mitsubishi Mirage, police officials say. He was taken to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital where he underwent surgery Tuesday morning, police reports show.

The man arrested in connection with the shooting, 20-year-old John Underwood, had spoken to police earlier in the evening about a suspicious man he saw tampering with vehicles in the parking lot of the motel, police reports show.

He’s been charged with aggravated assault and was confined at the Dougherty County Jail pending an arraignment and bond hearing set for this morning.

According to police reports, Underwood flagged down Albany Police Officer Calandra Bell while she was on patrol in the 1400 block of Dawson Road around 12:19 a.m. Tuesday and told her that he had seen a man tampering with vehicles in the parking lot of the motel.

Officers began patrolling the area, looking for a man Underwood described as being 5 feet, 8 inches tall, wearing black shorts and a black shirt, and a pair of white gloves, the report says.

Around 1:30 a.m., officers heard a series of gunshots, swarmed the scene and found Henderson sitting in his car, bleeding from a wound to his left arm and chest, the report says.

Henderson was wearing a black shirt, black shorts and a pair of white gloves were found in the vehicle, along with a screwdriver, police reports show.

Underwood, an employee of APX Security Co., told police at the motel that he shot at the vehicle and surrendered himself to police, APD reports said.

At a Tuesday morning news conference, Albany Police Department spokesperson Phyllis Banks acknowledged that the department has stepped up patrols around area motels in response to a growing number of car break-ins and thefts, but did not say Henderson had been linked to any of the previous entering-auto cases.

Charges against Henderson are pending the outcome of the investigation, but Banks said Tuesday that detectives hadn’t been able to interview him because of his medical condition.

Underscoring the need for vigilance while downplaying any vigilante justice, Banks urged witnesses of crime to call police and let the officers deal with suspects and avoid “taking matters in to your own hands.”

“We would suggest that people, if they do see something of this nature going on, (to call police),” she said. “We don’t suggest taking a gun and taking matters into your own hands.”

According to court documents, Henderson, also known as Charlie Henderson III, pleaded guilty to weapons charges earlier this month and was due to begin serving a 24-month sentence on probation.

Warrants and an accusation filed in Dougherty County State Court show Henderson was witnessed by officers to be carrying a 9mm pistol in the waistline of his pants without a permit May 10.

On July 18, he entered a guilty plea and was ordered to pay a $1,090 fine and ordered to spend 24 months on probation with at least one month spent in jail, court documents show.

Staff writer Joshua Brown contributed to this report.

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