The Selma Times-Journal

The five suspects charged in the Jan. 25 shootout remained in the Dallas County Jail Tuesday night without bond. District Judge Bob Armstrong, who appointed legal representation for the men during a bond hearing Monday, said he is taking their backgrounds before allowing the defendants an opportunity out of jail.

One of them, Oscar Bernard Murray, 25, was out on bond when he allegedly faked a disability to get close enough to four men working on a car stereo to open fire with a pistol. Armstrong set a preliminary hearing for Feb. 15 for Murray, Andrew Shelton, 20, James Jones III, 19, Jimmy Tyus, 20, and Kelsey King, 26.

All of the men are charged with assault in connection with the shooting at the intersection of Lapsley Street and Philpot Avenue where police believe Murray shot Michael Moore, 18, when Moore, Shelton, Jones, Tyus and King were working on a car stereo outside an apartment complex. Kenyatta Pollard, 28, was reportedly shot in the chest while he was taking out his garbage.

Defense attorneys questioned the Selma Police Department’s handling of the evidence during the Monday hearing, when police displayed the three pistols and assault rifle seized following the shooting. Defense attorneys said police should have tested their clients “to see if they had fired a weapon.”

“One of the major problems in this community is this kind of stuff,” said Assistant District Attorney John Oxford, who asked the court for bonds in excess of $400,000.

Tyus testified there had to be more than one shooter, even though he said they all dove for cover. “The shooting was still going on and he (Murray) wasn’t shooting. I saw him (Murray) running and bullets were still hitting the ground around my feet,” Tyus testified.

After the shooting the four men left the scene in a tan 1986 Chevrolet Caprice Classic. Police stopped the vehicle at the intersection of L.L. Anderson Avenue and Franklin Street. A search turned up the four weapons, including an assault rifle, which police said had been reported stolen.

Moore and Pollard were admitted to Vaughan Regional Medical Center where they were admitted and listed in stable condition, according to a hospital spokesperson. They were released over the weekend.