By Janice Gregorson
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
Two handguns, crime-scene pictures, bullet fragments and spent shell casings were passed among Olmsted County jurors Tuesday in their first look at much of the physical evidence collected following a shooting in a northeast Rochester neighborhood.
Law-enforcement officers and forensic scientists dominated the witness stand in the trial of Carlton Fogan, accused of aiding and abetting in second-degree assault.
The charges stem from a shooting Aug. 15 in the vicinity of the 600 block of 11th Avenue Northeast. No one was injured.
ADVERTISEMENT
Authorities have said bullets were fired from more than one weapon in what prosecutor Rick Jackson has called a gunfight.
Fogan, 27, of Rochester, was arrested after walking out of the entrance to Calvary Cemetery. He told police he was the victim, and that others were trying to kill him.
Police Sgt. Mike Drees said Fogan also told him that day that he had actually called police while hiding from the gunfire in the cemetery.
While others have been named as being at the scene, and in one case, even having a gun, no one else has been charged yet in connection with this case.
The trial got under way Nov. 17. It has not recessed for the Thanksgiving holiday, and will resume Monday.
Officers found two handguns at different locations in the area, and spent bullet fragments and shell casings from three kinds of guns.
Officer John Fishbaugher, a member of the city police department’s newly formed street crimes unit, said he went to the neighborhood about 7 p.m. on Aug. 15 to look for additional evidence and interview people as part of the investigation. He found a 40-caliber Glock semiautomatic handgun under a bush in the northwest corner of a church building on 11th Avenue Northeast. Authorities say it belonged to a part-time Chatfield police officer who also is Fogan’s longtime girlfriend.
The gun had a round in the chamber and live rounds in the magazine, jurors were told.
ADVERTISEMENT
A 45-caliber handgun was found under a bridge in the 600 block of 11th Avenue Northeast.
Officer Joe Mayerle talked of finding three shell casings from a 9-mm gun on the bridge. The gun was found on the west side of the trail under the bridge. It was loaded, he said.
