Shooting victim was 19-year-old from Tyler

Published 11:22 pm Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The victim from last week’s shooting has been identified.

Vontrayvious Bennett, 19, of Tyler, died Saturday, days after being shot, according to District Attorney Michael Jackson.

Bennett died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to investigators.

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Since Bennett’s death, the murder charges against shooting suspect 20-year-old Joe Jackson have been upgraded to capital murder, according to the district attorney.

Joe Jackson is also wanted on shooting into an occupied vehicle and shooting into unoccupied vehicle charges.

Investigators continue to search for Joe Jackson and a second suspect, 24-year-old Jasper Cole. Cole is wanted on a hindering prosecution charge for allegedly driving Joe away from the scene of the crime.

The evening of Monday, July 18, Selma police received multiple calls of shots fired on King Street and of a shooting victim at Vaughan Regional Medical Center’s emergency room.

Investigators speculate Bennett was a backseat passenger of a vehicle driving down 900 block of King Street at the time of the shooting.

In a previous report, Lt. Tory Neely said the driver transported Bennett to the hospital where he was then transported to University of Alabama at Birmingham trauma center.

The second vehicle shot was unoccupied and parked near the shooting site.

This shooting is the second shooting on King Street in the past month and Selma’s ninth homicide this year.

Anyone with information about the shooting or the whereabouts of the suspects are encouraged to call the detective division at (334) 874-2125 or the secret witness line at (334) 874-2190.