Public safety summary
A man was hospitalized Thursday afternoon after a shooting in broad daylight at a Pooler gas station.
Two suspects were taken into custody shortly after the shooting that Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew described as domestic in nature.
Pooler police responded to the report of a shooting about 2:45 p.m. at the Chevron gas station at the corner of U.S. 80 and Dean Forest Road, where they found the man suffering from a gunshot wound to his upper torso, Revenew said. No information was available about his condition Thursday.
A short time later police and Georgia State Patrol troopers took two suspects into custody along Interstate 16 after a short pursuit, the chief said.
He commended the work of his officers and the other agencies that responded Thursday to “apprehend the suspects so quickly.”
The gas station was closed for about two hours as investigators scoured the scene inside and outside the store. Much of the investigation focused on a blue late-model Toyota Camry that was later towed away.
Revenew said the victim and the two arrested suspects were from Bryan County. He did not immediately release the names of any of the individuals.
“The scene is under active investigation, so it would be improper to comment any further at this time,” Revenew said. “... Obviously we’ve still got a lot of investigating to do, and we’ll have detectives tending to the victim at the hospital.”
Effingham magistrate orders arrest of Moretz
An Effingham County magistrate has ordered the arrest of a Rincon woman for violating bond conditions following her arrest in Florida on Aug. 29.
Chief Magistrate Scott Hinson ordered the arrest on Aug. 30 of Kimberly Moretz. Moretz is awaiting trial on charges of concealing the death of Charlie Ray, 35, of Wilmington Island.
Moretz was arrested in Naples, Fla., on a Charlotte County, Fla., bench warrant on Aug. 29.
Effingham County Sheriff’s Office spokesman David Ehsanipoor said officials believe Moretz fled the Effingham County area to avoid trial.
Moretz is also charged with hindering apprehension of a criminal and tampering with evidence.
The trial is set to begin on Sept. 23.
Her husband, Chad Moretz, took her hostage on Jan. 11 in their house in the Westwood Heights subdivision in the Rincon area.
Chad Moretz was shot to death by a Savannah-Chatham SWAT team member after an armed standoff with police.
When investigators entered the hostage scene at the Whitehall Avenue home, they discovered the partial remains of Ray. Ray’s torso and limbs were found in garbage bags in a rental storage unit rented by Kimberly Moretz in Jasper County, S.C.
Investigators believe Chad Moretz stabbed Ray to death in the kitchen of the Moretz residence on Jan. 1 or 2.
Also charged in the case was Kevin Lambert, the brother of Kimberly Moretz.
Lambert pleaded guilty on Aug. 6 to hindering the apprehension of a criminal. Superior Court Judge F. Gates Peed sentenced Lambert to five years of probation and required him to stay out of the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit and stay away from Ray’s family.
Moretz is being held in the Charlotte County jail.
Ehsanipoor said investigators from Effingham headed to Florida on Sept. 5 to pick up Moretz.
Police grant allows DUI tech upgrade
Savannah-Chatham police recently received a grant that will help them meet new standards in DUI technology set for 2016.
The $8,000 grant through the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety paid for the department’s first Intoxilyzer 9000 breath alcohol tester, said Julian Miller, police spokesman.
Savannah-Chatham officers currently use seven earlier versions of the equipment for breath-alcohol testing, but the older machines will become illegal in Georgia in 2016.
Miller said the new breath tester will be easier to use and will be able to perform its own calibration checks, download test information to a centralized server and print them on standard printers. Updating software can be performed from a centralized server.
The traffic unit expects to have the new unit working Oct. 1, Miller said.
Compiled by Corey Dickstein and DeAnn Komanecky