Things got a bit cheeky this weekend in Columbus, as police are investigating two separate incidents where victims were shot in the buttocks while sitting in cars.
CPD officers responded to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle about 9:25 p.m. on Sunday for a report of someone in the emergency room with a gunshot wound to the buttocks.
The victim told police he had been in a car in the area of 21st Street and Sixth Avenue North when he was shot, according to Public Information Officer Johannah Owusu.
The victim was deliberately targeted by someone he has a long-standing disagreement with, Owusu said.
The shooter shot through the driver’s side door of the victim’s car, hitting him in the rear end, Owusu said. He was treated and released from the hospital.
No arrest has been made, but police have identified a suspect, Owusu said.
In the second shooting, a man was wounded in the buttocks by a stray bullet while driving in East Columbus on Friday.
At about 6:45 p.m., officers responded to a call of shots fired in the 500 block of Catalpa Street. When they arrived, they saw a residence had been struck by gunfire twice, according to a CPD press release.
Soon after, Baptist Memorial-Golden Triangle Hospital called Lowndes County E911 and reported receiving a gunshot victim who said that he’d been shot in East Columbus.
The release said the gunfire was the result of a dispute on Facebook escalating into violence.
The man who was shot was not involved in the dispute but just happened to be driving in the area when he was struck.
CPD Chief Joseph Daughtry said officers processed the vehicle and found multiple bullet holes through the driver’s side door of the car.
He said the driver may have leaned forward when he heard gunshots, which would have put his buttocks in line with the shots.
“This is why we are so aggressively increasing patrol around the city because incidents like this one are senseless,” Daughtry said.
No arrests have been made yet, Daughtry said.
Daughtry said the victim was treated and released from the hospital.
CPD asks anyone with information on these shootings to call Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers at (800) 530-7151 or use the P3 smartphone app. Tips are anonymous, and tips that lead to an arrest may be eligible for a cash reward.
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