VALDOSTA, Ga. – On Wednesday, December 18, around 11:15 a.m. a shooting occurred of a Barnes Drugs customer.
When Valdosta Today arrived at the scene several Valdosta Police Department cruisers were blocking off the area of Savannah and Toombs Streets where the shooting took place on the corner sidewalk.
Charles Barnes, owner of Barnes Drugs, gave Valdosta Today a walk through from his longtime family-owned drug store up Savannah Street to the corner where Toombs crosses. Yellow police tape was blocking off the entire area.
An empty electric wheelchair sat facing the red brick building on the corner. Mr. Barnes explained that all three of the buildings, beginning with the actual Barnes Drugs on Patterson and Savannah Streets, a middle warehouse building, and the red brick building on the end where Toombs crosses Savannah Street belong to him.
“People upstairs at this building here heard the shots and looked down and saw the victim on the sidewalk,” Barnes explained, adding that the red brick building serves as the offices for accounting and such for Barnes Drugs.
“I’ve been here 50 years and never had any trouble,” he said. “My daddy and grandfather have been here over 100 years and we’ve never felt we were in danger. We have security cameras and other than the drugstore being robbed once, we’ve never had anything like this happen.”
Barnes explained he was unable to release information about the victim due to HIPPA laws.
This is a developing story and Valdosta Today will update when more information is available.
