Fayetteville sees spike in crime

Thursday, March 15, 2012

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cumberland county, shooting, local/state, gilbert baez

FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- The City of Fayetteville has seen a sudden spike in crime, as a string of shootings and robberies have some residents on edge.

Police told ABC11 that the three shootings that happened within days of one another all involved handguns and were all attached to random acts of violence. However, officials have not connected the shootings to one another.

"I don't think it's an exorbitant number of robberies unfortunately for Fayetteville," said Fayetteville Police Lt. Chris Davis. "It just seems like we've had a lot here in a short period of time. Nothing that we know at this time ties the three incidents together."

The first shooting took place early March 10 around 2 a.m. at a gas station on Ramsey Street. The shooting suspect followed the victim out of the convenience store and confronted him while he was pumping gas.

"The suspect approached him from the back," Davis said. "At some point asked for money or personal items and ended up shooting him and walking away."

The second shooting happened Tuesday, also early in the morning - just before 3 a.m., when a man was robbed and shot while he walked along Yadkin Road.

The most recent incident took place Wednesday night as a crowd of teenagers gathered at a fast food restaurant on Raeford Road. Someone fired shots into the group, injuring one teen. No one suffered life-threatening injuries.

Although the shootings concern some members of the community, some believe it's not out of the ordinary.

"Random crime is going on and the media is actually picking it up and just being more aware of everything. Because the unemployment rate is so high and things are being a lot more noticeable now," Fayetteville resident Willie Burgess said.