Central City Police Chief Jamie Ramsey says a search is currently underway for a suspect in a Friday night shooting near the intersection of Hardin and Marion.
The 27-year-old Centralia man was struck multiple times in the lower abdomen and upper leg area. He was initially taken to SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia and then transferred by ground ambulance to a trauma unit at a St. Louis Hospital due to foggy conditions. Ramsey said the victim is expected to survive.
Ramsey reports the shooting started in the street. The victim then ran into a yard in the 100 block of North Marion Street where he collapsed. Ramsey said the suspect continued shooting the victim from about 20 feet away as he lied in the yard. The victim told police he played dead in hopes of getting the shooting to stop. He was able to identify the suspect.
Ramsey says the suspect then fled east on foot before getting into a white vehicle that fled south on Poplar Street. Police were able to find the vehicle about 45 minutes later parked outside a home in Wamac. A search warrant was executed on the vehicle and evidence recovered. However, the gun has not been located.
Ramsey reports the suspect is from Centralia, but is believed to have fled the area. He reports a motive has been established for the shooting, but that information is not yet being released.
Ramsey says they were assisted at the scene and the investigation by the Marion and Clinton County Sheriff’s Departments, Centralia Police, and several Illinois State Police troopers who stayed in the Centralia area the rest of the night in the event of any other problems developing in the aftermath of the shooting.
Ramsey believes this is the first shooting that has occurred in Central City in more than 40 years.
