Contradictory statements on connection between fatal crash, shooting cause confusion

Yahoo

20-03-2025

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – A shooting that left five people injured and a police chase that left one man dead has left several local agencies at odds as to how the two are connected.
Five people were shot at the Westlake apartments in Savannah early Tuesday morning, and later in the day, an innocent man was killed in a police chase on Liberty Parkway.
A report obtained by WSAV from the Savannah Police Department (SPD) said SPD pursued the silver Jeep Cherokee that crashed because they believed it had been involved in the Westlake shooting.
The driver of the Cherokee was Kenneth Jeffery Gordon, according to several law enforcement agencies.
During the chase, Gordon struck another vehicle, killing the driver. The Chatham County Coroner identified the innocent driver as 60-year-old Darren Lewis.
Gordon was arrested for homicide by vehicle in the first degree, among several other charges, after the crash.
WSAV reported Tuesday that Gordon was also a suspect in the Westlake Apartments shooting, according to the Chatham County District Attorney (DA).
'The current suspect, Kenneth Jeffery Gordon, the defendant, was out on bond at the time of these most recent events,' Chatham County DA Shalena Cook Jones, said Tuesday night. 'Our records indicate that the defendant was out on bond. That bond was issued in 2022 by a Port Wentworth judge and at the time he was charged with fleeing and attempting to elude officers and felony obstruction.'
However, the Chatham County Police Department said at a press conference on Wednesday that only the car Gordon was driving when the crash happened is involved in their investigation into the Westlake shooting, not Gordon himself.
'Kenneth Jeffery Gordon, the man arrested and charged in the fatal crash has not been identified as a suspect,' Chief Jeff Hadley with the Chatham County Police Department said. 'The vehicle he was in in the fatal crash that occurred was part of our investigation. That vehicle was part of our investigation. However, the individual was not identified as a suspect. He still hasn't been identified as a suspect.'
In response, Jones issued another statement Wednesday:
'My statement yesterday was based on information received from several credible law enforcement agencies on scene and was cross referenced and verified before any statement was made.'
In a police report from SPD, Gordon was named as likely to have been involved in the shooting.
'This pursuit was being conducted in accordance with departmental policy as this silver Compass was involved in a mass shooting leaving five people injured, and it was being driven by an unidentified male likely to have been involved in this shooting,' the report says. 'The driver, a black male wearing a red shirt and black jeans, was scrambling out of the driver seat of the silver Compass. The male, later identified as Kenneth GORDON, proceeded to flee on foot east in front of 1835 Upson Street.'
The report said that SPD received surveillance footage that 'depicted three individuals, each holding a firearm, with one of the three actively shooting while taking cover behind a building in Westlake.' Another video showed the same three people meeting another person before entering a silver Jeep Compass and leaving the scene, the officer said.
This included Gordon, according to the report which said that surveillance footage showed a black man entering the silver Compass prior to the chase, and the person who dropped him off is identified as someone who had relations with one of the victims in the Westlake shooting.
You can read releases from the DA and Chatham PD by clicking here.
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