Taladega, Alabama

From the Taladega Daily Home of March 21, 2007

Drive-by shooting suspects shot

An apparently botched drive-by shooting on Old Shocco Road Wednesday morning led to two Talladega residents suffering shotgun wounds before being arrested by Talladega police.

Demetrius Lamar Gooden, 23, 97 Cleve Lane, and Antoine Jamel Freeman, 18, 1822 Old Shocco Road, were each charged with one count of shooting into an occupied building. Gooden was also charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance (crack cocaine) and Freeman was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana in the second degree.

Gooden’s bond was set at $1,500 by Circuit Judge Chad Woodruff. Freeman’s bond was set at $10,500.

According to Police Chief Alan Watson, at about 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, three suspects fired several shots with an automatic handgun into the residence of Dexter Lamar Swain, 27, at 1480 Old Shocco Road, Apartment 7, from a car. Swain’s brother, Maurice Swain, 32, was also in the apartment at the time.

Although neither of the Swain brothers was hit, bullets did damage two walls in the apartment, the front door, a home entertainment center and a 19-inch television set.

One of the Swain brothers returned fire with a 12-gauge shotgun, hitting Gooden in the right leg and Freeman in the right hand. The third suspect was not hit.

The suspects then went to Kelly Park, Watson said.

According to Detective John McCoy, who testified at the initial appearance, the Swains called police and gave them a description and possible destination for the vehicle the suspects fled in.

McCoy found Gooden, Freeman, a male subject and a female subject getting out of the car with shotgun damage and into another vehicle, probably to go to the hospital. Gooden’s drug charge stems from crack cocaine found in a pack of cigarettes at that time. Freeman’s marijuana charge stemmed from a small baggie in plain sight in the back seat of the car, between his feet.

Two pistols were also recovered in the yard of the residence where the suspects were changing cars.

Gooden and Freeman were taken to the emergency room at Citizens Baptist Medical Center, where the former eventually refused treatment and was arrested immediately.

Freeman’s hand wound was treated in the emergency room, and he was placed under arrest as soon as he was discharged, Watson said.

Bond was set at $10,000 each for the shooting into an occupied dwelling charge, $5,000 for Gooden’s drug charge and $500 for Freeman’s marijuana charge. Should they make bond and get out of jail, they will be subject to random drug testing and are barred from carrying firearms of any kind.

Watson said the third suspect is known, and added the Swains had not been charged with anything. The investigation remained ongoing Wednesday afternoon.