Drag Racing Wreck Investigation
by Mike McClanahan
CBS 42 News
2008-01-14 16:10:40.0
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A dangerous drag race in a Pratt City industrial park came to a horrifying end Sunday evening. Police say one onlooker was run over and dragged, and in the chaos that ensued another person was shot multiple times.
Police are still sorting out the details of the wreck and subsequent shooting, but one thing is certain: Two people were killed and their deaths are both considered homicides.
An amateur photographer posted the video on Youtube. It purportedly captured the moments before and after two drag racing cars came barreling down Republic Boulevard and lost control in Pratt City, Sunday.
Police say an onlooker, 29-year-old Lonnie King was struck by one of the vehicles. Speaking Sunday night, Captain Herman Hinton described what police were hearing from witnesses.
"One of the guys from one of the groups decided that they should take the guy to the hospital to see what if anything could be done for him, and that's when one of his friends apparently turned on him and shot him multiple times," said Hinton.
Lonnie King died at the scene. The gunshot victim, 36-year-old Anthony Lett of Huntsville, died later at a local hospital.
On Monday, traces of the weekend violence scar the busy Pratt Republic Industrial Park. Lori Austin has worked there for eight years, but says she never knew it was an underground drag racing strip.
"Obviously there's death now so I hope this really raises some kind of flag that, there's a need here," said Austin.
But Dennis McFarland says he routinely sees groups of four or more cars race here, and he's tired of it.
"It takes a death for them to do something about it. I see it here all the time, but like this other man was saying, it was bound to happen sooner or later," said McFarland.
Police are not certain if or how the shooting might be connected to the accident, and so far no suspects are in custody.
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