“Help me, I can’t breathe. I been shot”

A deputy sheriff found a man in a pool of blood inside an abandoned mobile home in the Utica Community. A bloody knife was found nearby, but the bleeding man told the deputy that he had been shot. The Oconee Sheriff’s Office believes that the man, who is homeless, was shot at one location in Utica and made his way to the vicinity of 204 D Street where he was found late Monday afternoon. Officers had a trail of blood droplets to follow to help determine what happened and to look for whoever was responsible. The Sheriff’s Office appeals to the public for information that can solve the crime. The wounded man, not identified by name for safety and health privacy reasons, was airlifted to an out of county hospital. It’s just one more criminal act in Utica. Might Utica justify for a new sheriff’s substation? Sheriff Crenshaw says, “Placing a substation in Utica is not going to stop crime but I do think it can have a positive effect.” In recent weeks, Crenshaw has expressed concern about a one mile square area of Utica that is generating a large number of service calls.