Neighbors react to Fenwick area shooting

Published 12:00 am Friday, February 19, 2010

FENWICK — While the Adams County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate a Wednesday night double homicide in the Fenwick community, neighbors say they will sleep with one eye open in the days to come.

Jonathan Newman and Amy Laredo were sleeping at their house on Jack Kelly Road when gunshots awoke them at approximately 11:30 p.m.

“We heard three gunshots, and the dogs started raising cane,” Laredo said.

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As the couple made their way to the front door to investigate, a woman frantically ran toward them, pleading for help.

“She came running in here, she had blood all over her feet and she was screaming, ‘Help me! Help me! Let me in! They’re trying to shoot my daughter!’” Laredo said.

“We have four kids in the house and she woke them all up. I tried to assist her as best I can.”

Newman said the woman was Donna Garner, the mother of 16-year-old Tina Garner. Tina was injured and transported to a local hospital.

At approximately 11:40 p.m., Newman said he made the short walk to 5 East St., where he found 50-year-old Carl Williams of Roxie alive, but barely breathing on the living room floor. Williams was shot three times.

“I went over there to see if anybody was hurt,” Newman said. “The man was laid out on the floor, and that was the only person I saw.”

Newman said he never ventured to the back bedroom, where authorities found the body of 19-year-old Stephanie Anderson, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest.

Laredo said she and her husband moved to the neighborhood five months ago. She claims heated arguments were a regular occurrence at 5 East St.

“Three or four times a week there’s hollering in the street,” Laredo said. “There’s traffic over there all the time coming from the house. Fifteen to 18 vehicles a week come through, stay for a few minutes and leave.”

Another neighbor, who refused to reveal his name citing the safety of his family, called the residence a “crackhouse.”

Visibly shaken, the neighbor recalled Wednesday night as he watched Adams County Sheriff’s Office investigators Ricky Stevens and Jerry Brown survey the scene Thursday afternoon. The neighbor said he didn’t know much about the victims, but he knew Williams once worked for Georgia Pacific in Roxie.

“I heard an argument and I heard gunshots,” the neighbor said. “I have a wife and four kids, and I rushed to get them on the floor.

“It was too close for comfort. It was a scary experience.”