An early Sunday morning shooting has left one person dead in East Columbus.
Police have identified a person of interest to question in the incident, according to Columbus Police Chief Fred Shelton.
Police received a call to the 100 block of Poplar Street in East Columbus at 1:47 a.m. Sunday.
That call was for a reckless driver in the area. Four minutes later, at 1:51 a.m., police were called to a wrecked car in the ditch on Highway 182 near Poplar Street.
That car matched the description of the earlier call of a reckless driver. When police arrived at the accident scene, they found the driver unconscious. Police also found bullet holes in the car.
“We believe the incident occurred in the 100 block of Poplar,” said Chief Shelton. “We believe there was some type of altercation and then gunshots. We have recovered shell casings at the scene on Poplar.
We believe the driver was shot on Poplar and then drove away before crashing the car. We have one passenger that was in the car and that person was not hurt.”
Columbus Police are working to locate the person of interest. “We have a name and we are working to locate the subject to talk to him,” Chief Shelton said early Sunday.
“We are not ready to release that person’s name at this time as we continue to investigate the incident.”
Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant will provide the identity of the victim once the family has been notified.
