The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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August 31, 2010

Man charged for shooting at carwash

By Matthew Jackson Staff Reporter

HUNTSVILLE — A Huntsville man was charged Friday with two counts after aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after police connected him to a July 17 shooting at a local carwash that left two men wounded.

Huntsville police served two warrants just after noon Friday charging Benjamin Antwon Byrd, 17, with the shooting.

At the time of the charges Byrd was already in custody at the Walker County Jail after being jailed on July 22 for an unrelated aggravated robbery charge, police said Monday.

According to Sgt. Ken Foulch of the HPD Criminal Investigation Division, Byrd was connected to the shooting after eyewitness accounts placed him at the scene.

Foulch said Byrd is believed to be the man who fired a shotgun at two other men at a carwash in the 300 block of Bowers Boulevard on the afternoon of July 17.

Both men were struck with birdshot in the legs, and though one was airlifted to a Houston hospital, both survived with only minor injuries.

Foulch said a second unidentified suspect is still wanted in connection with the incident.

The shooting is now being connected by Huntsville police as a “retaliatory” act for a July 15 shooting at a trailer park on Angier Road.

That shooting left one man injured, and two men – Fredrick Roshard Stanford and Travis Jermaine Harrell, both 24 – have since been arrested for the crime.

According to both Foulch and Lt. Curt Landrum, both shootings were the result of earlier confrontations between two groups.

“There was a fist fight where words were exchanged,” Landrum said. “Threats were made and as a result the shooting occurred. They took the fight to the next level.”

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