Source: Press-Register / al.com

Two killed, one injured in shooting

Thursday, April 06, 2006
By NADIA M. TAYLOR
Staff Reporter

Two men were shot to death and another man was injured Wednesday afternoon when a gunman on foot approached a sport utility vehicle that was stopped in the drive-through of a Toulminville McDonald's and opened fire, police said.

When the victims shot back, "numerous stray bullets" hit a day-care center several hundred yards away, but no children were injured, Mobile police spokesman Officer Eric Gallichant said in a news release.

The identities of the victims were not released Wednesday, and police had only a partial description of the gunman because he covered part of his face with a T-shirt, acting Police Chief Lester Hargrove said.

"The whole third precinct is out there now looking for him," Hargrove said Wednesday afternoon while standing in the fast-food restaurant's parking lot.

Several surveillance cameras are positioned on top of the restaurant, and Hargrove said investigators would review the footage from those cameras.

Shortly after 4:30 p.m., the three victims pulled up in a Chevrolet Blazer and ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through on St. Stephens Road and Clinton Avenue in north Mobile, according to Mobile County District Attorney John M. Tyson Jr.

Then the vehicle moved up to the first window to pay for the food, Tyson said.

At that point, the gunman walked up behind the Blazer and opened fire, Tyson said.

The man fled the scene on foot and ran west on Clinton Avenue, police said, to an awaiting vehicle.

The driver of the Blazer, who was shot in the abdomen, sped away after the shooting with the two other victims and arrived at the University of South Alabama Medical Center a few minutes later, Tyson said.

The SUV was "just riddled with bullets," Hargrove said. The vehicle was parked in front of the ambulance entrance, and blood drips could be seen below the bottom of the rear passenger door.

The back windshield had been shot out, and more than a dozen empty shell casings were found in the rear of the vehicle.

Another half dozen shell casings were marked by investigators in the McDonald's parking lot, scattered all around the drive-through area.

The brightly colored plastic toys and equipment behind the Toulminville-Warren Street United Methodist Church Day Care Center sat empty Wednesday afternoon, a large mural of two Sesame Street characters, Big Bird and Elmo, stood watch over a deserted playground.

Several children remained at the day-care center after the shootout sent at least one bullet through a side window, according to Pastor Donald Smith.

"What you have here is an absolute disregard for life," Hargrove said. "There are kids here, old people, adults. There is absolutely no regard for human life."

Tyson agreed, calling the area where the shooting took place "one of the busiest commercial areas in the city."

More than a dozen people, including several children in school uniforms, were inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting and were being questioned by police Wednesday afternoon.

The entire McDonald's parking lot was roped off with yellow crime tape, and at 6 p.m. officers blocked off part of Clinton Avenue to the several hundred onlookers who had gathered.

Traffic slowed to a standstill at times.

Added: April 6, 2006