JACKSON – Police are continuing to search for two men who are alleged to have assaulted a Jackson resident in the early morning hours of Aug. 13.
In the latest development in the case, police offered a different take on an initial report which indicated the man might have been shot in the face during the altercation.
Police Capt. Steven Laskiewicz said a robbery occurred shortly after a Jackson resident left Cee Gee’s Bar and Grill, in the Brook Plaza, South New Prospect Road, between 1:20-2:50 a.m. Aug. 13. Police did not provide the man’s name or age.
Police said the man was walking through the shopping center’s rear parking lot near a gas station on West County Line Road when he was approached by a man who was riding a bicycle and wielding a knife.
Officials said the man on the bicycle allegedly demanded money from the individual who was on foot. Those two men began to fight. At that time a third man began to assault the individual who had been walking across the parking lot.
Laskiewicz said that at one point during the incident the target of the attack was on the ground when he allegedly heard two gunshots go off near his face. A short time later the two assailants fled the scene.
Police have now said the man’s injuries did not “appear to be consistent with a gunshot wound” and could have been sustained when he fell to the pavement.
The victim eventually made his way home to West County Line Road just before 3 a.m. and called police.
The victim has continued to allege that he heard gunshots during the struggle, Laskiewicz said.
— Andrew Martins