WOWK 13 News

Residents concerned after another shooting on Charleston’s West Side

CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK)—An early morning shooting on Charleston’s West Side on Wednesday sent a teenager to the hospital with gunshot wounds. The incident happened at the intersection of Glenwood and Central Avenue. Several neighbors in the area are now expressing their concerns about violence in the area.

Kanawha Metro says that the juvenile was shot in the leg and the stomach on the 800 block of Central Ave. The call came in around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

“What can we do? We’re old people. We can’t protect ourselves,” says Pam Harper, a Jarrett Terrace Apartments resident. She says it’s a situation she and other residents have seen one too many times. “We had a lady almost get killed inside from a stay bullet,” says Harper.

Charleston Police Department Chief of Detectives Lt. Tony Hazelett says they have ramped up patrol on the West Side, especially after recent incidents. “We’ve had a couple of shootings here. You know obviously, we had KJ Taylor here. We’ve provided extra patrols. You know this shooting here happened very early in the morning. So it’s just one of those things where it just happened, we were on patrol, we were in the area. It just so happened that it was really early,” said Hazelett.

Hazlett says his team is still collecting statements from eyewitnesses and it’s still early on in the investigation. In the meantime, nearby residents continue to question their living situation. “Would you stay? If that’s the second shooting on that corner in less than a year? Would you want to move here?” says Harper.

Police say that no arrests have yet been made, but witnesses at the scene told police that the suspect is a black male.