Report: Witness Thought Shots Were Firecrackers

An eyewitness that heard told police he first believed those shots to be firecrackers, according to a police report released to Patch by the on Tuesday.

The report, filed by Officer Brian LaBarre March 21, states several officers had been nearby at waiting for a key holder to arrive because other officers had noticed several windows had been left open. It was during this time at around 1 a.m. that "we heard three to four succinct popping sounds that all three of us immediately identified as the sound of gunfire," LaBarre wrote in his report.

The officers returned to the vehicles when they heard several additional "popping sounds," in the area of Harrison, Morton and Grant streets, and Bellevue Terrace, according to the report.

The officers searched Harrison, Morton and Grant, noting nothing out of the ordinary on any of those streets, according to the report. LaBarre then began to search Bellevue Terrace by foot, when officers were informed that a call had just come in saying shots had been fired in the area of 88 Mills St., according to the report.

One eyewitness told police he was leaving a friends house on Mills Street when he saw the light-colored sedan that has been identified as the possible source of the shots fired, according to the report. The man told police he thought the sound was firecrackers at first, but then said he saw two individuals in the sedan as it sped past him, and believed he saw the passenger with his arm extended out the passenger side window, according to the report.

He told police he could not tell if the people in the sedan were male or female, but he believed the sedan to be a four-door and light in color, according to the report.

Another eyewitness said she also heard the shots fired and the car speed past, but could only identify the vehicle as possibly either a Nissan or Toyota, according to the report.

Another witness, a Mills Street resident, said he saw what appeared to be a smaller, silver four-door sedan speed down the road, according to the report. He told police he believed the occupants of the vehicle were male, according to the report.

Two other people at the scene were interviewed by police, saying they had heard the shots but had not seen a car speed down Mills Street past Hazlett Street, where they were coming from, according to the report.

A total of seven 9mm shell casings were found in the vicinity of Kenmuir Avenue and Hazlett Street, according to the report. Neighboring towns were also advised of the incident, according to the report.

The investigation is ongoing.