FAIRMONT —
One man dead. Two injured. And a fourth in jail.
A shooting in the early morning hours of July 3, 1989, on Maple Avenue left John “Papoose” Sumlin, 24, of 200 Howard St., Fairmont, dead of gunshot wounds to his upper torso.
A second victim, 39-year-old John Jeffrey Hebden, was in stable condition at Fairmont General Hospital with gunshot wounds to his shoulder and back.
Abel Simpkins, 24, of Orange, N.J., was in critical condition at Ruby Memorial Hospital as a result of injuries sustained from a fall from the High Level Bridge. He was charged with murder, malicious wounding and possession of cocaine with intent to deliver.
Albert Kenneth Anderson, 31, of 123 Robinson St., was arrested late that night and arraigned on charges of felony murder and possession of cocaine with intent to deliver.
Sumlin and Hebden had been shot with a .25 caliber semi-automatic. This type of weapon, along with a plastic bag containing 36 small plastic bags of what was believed to be powder and rock cocaine, was found in a car rented by Simpkins.
Police theorized the shooting was drug-related. A stereo that one person said was stolen and another said was purchased may have been used to barter for drugs.
Murder is a capital offense and the judge has the right to refuse to set bond, which is what the state urged then-Circuit Judge Rodney Merrifield to do.
Anderson was held on $50,000 bond on the drug charge. His defense attorney, Frank Cleckley, said no testimony linked Anderson with either Sumlin’s murder or Hebden’s injury.
Local News
Related Photos
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Police theorize that the July 3, 1989, shooting of John “Papoose” Sumlin and John Jeffrey Hebden was drug-related. The two were shot with a .25 caliber semi-automatic, similar to the gun pictured, and the weapon was found with a plastic bag containing what was believed to be powder and rock cocaine in a car rented by the suspect. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY STEFANIE ROBBINS AND TAMMY SHRIVER
Drug-related crime
1989 shooting left one dead, two injured
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