Fatal shooting on Mosby Street
At approximately 6:25 p.m., Richmond Police responded to the 1000 block of Mosby Street for a report of a person shot. When officers arrived they found a black male near O Street suffering from a gunshot wound. He was unresponsive and died at the scene.
This is the 2nd homicide in the East End so far in 2011, and number 13 for the city. UPDATE: This is currently classified as a “death investigation”.
Richmond Police investigators have identified the man found shot to death last night as Londell L. Shelton Jr., 19, of the 1400 block of North 30th Street.
Does anyone know why this was downgraded from a homicide investigation to a death investigation?
Article posted in Times Dispatch…
“Also Thursday, a police spokeswoman said Shelton’s death now is being classified as a “death investigation” instead of a homicide. Police initially had called it a homicide. Police declined to explain the change in status.”
Does anyone know why this has been changed from a homicide, and what is the difference in these classifications?
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/may/20/TDMET02-crime-and-police-news-for-friday-may-20-ar-1051670/
Cordie,
My understanding is that a “death investigation” describes a case where it is unclear the circumstances of the death – say one where it is not yet certain that there was foul play or where it still could be suicide. Once the police know more about the circumstances and are sure it was actually murder, it would be upgraded again to a “homicide investigation.”
I don’t know much about the circumstances of the case but this occasionally might happen if there were some clues that made it appear that suicide was a possibility or that it could have been an accident instead of intentional homicide.
Thank you Alex for your explanation.