Albany police report shooting death, gunshots at football game

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From staff reports

ALBANY — Public relations officials with the city of Albany and the Albany Police Department had not responded by The Albany Herald’s deadline Saturday to requests seeking additional information about incidents in the city Friday.

Early Friday morning, Gregory Jessie, 62, died of a gunshot wound in an apparent drive-by shooting at the intersection of West Second Avenue and Eugemar Drive in downtown Albany, and late Friday night the Dougherty High-Monroe High football game was halted when gunshots erupted outside Hugh Mills Stadium, sending athletes, fans and players scrambling for safety.

An APD news release Friday said police responded to a report of shots fired at the West Second Street/Eugemar Drive intersection and discovered Jessie with a gunshot wound to his chest when they arrived.

The gunshot proved fatal. A witness told officers that two males driving a silver vehicle made contact with Jessie, and after the witness heard gunshots, that witness saw the suspects speed away.

With a little more than a minute remaining in the Dougherty-Monroe football game at Hugh Mills Stadium Friday night, gunshots erupted just outside the stadium.

With 1:34 remaining in the fourth quarter of the game, approximately 10 to 12 gunshots were heard coming from just north of the stadium where student buses park for the game and right as fans were heading to the exits because the game was nearing its end.

Players and coaches rushed off the field and into the locker rooms while fans raced to get out of the stands, behind a wall, or underneath the benches.

With sirens blaring, the game, which Dougherty won 45-12, was called.

Both Coach Lacey Herring of Monroe and Coach Johnny Gilbert of Dougherty reported that their players and coaches were accounted for and safe. More gunshots rang out later Friday night from an area near the stadium.

Anyone with information about either of these incidents is asked to contact Crimestoppers at (229) 436-TIPS or The Albany Police Department at (229) 431-2100.

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Author

Except for a brief period, Albany Herald Editor Carlton Fletcher has been a newspaperman, working as Sports Writer/Columnist for the weekly Ocilla Star, as Sports Writer/Sports Editor with The Tifton Gazette, and as Sports Writer/Copy Editor/News Reporter/Features Editor and Editor of the paper. He has won numerous awards for sports, news, business and column writing, including a first-place Business Writing award in last year’s Georgia Press Association awards competition.

Read Carlton’s stories.

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