Poker game descends into violence - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Poker game descends into violence

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By Dante Renzulli - bio | email
Nikia Mcleod (Source: Columbus Police Department) Nikia Mcleod (Source: Columbus Police Department)

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COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) -

What began as a gathering among friends ended with one in the hospital and the other in jail.

It happened early Saturday morning on Boby Drive in Columbus.  Neighbors say two guests at a party, both soldiers at Fort Benning, got into a fist fight and eventually guns were drawn.

"They had a dispute within the poker game and the gentleman got mad.  All I remember is my wife waking up at 3 a.m. and hearing two different kinds of gunshots.  I ran over to the door to see and I watched the party scatter," said neighbor Christopher Rodriguez.

Over a dozen rounds were exchanged between the two men, damaging the front door and siding of the house.  A neighbor returned home Sunday and discovered for the first time that a bullet struck his house as well.  Police say one of the men continued to return fire despite being shot four times in the legs and lower abdomen.

"He was just laying there.  I know he wasn't dead because the gentleman was saying that he shot the other guy.  He said, ‘I shot him in the butt! I shot him in the butt!'," said Rodriguez.

Witnesses say the other man jumped the fence of a house across the street and tried to get inside for cover.

"Then my wife started screaming in the house saying somebody was trying to get in the back door.  So I ran to the back door and I said, ‘Hey, get away from my door.' He didn't really want to get away from the door, so I got my shotgun and kind of ran him away," said neighbor James Smith.

That man, later identified as Nikia Mcleod, was apprehended by police a short distance from the scene.  Of the two people involved, he is the only one who has been charged criminally and faces one count of aggravated assault.

"From what I heard, the two gentlemen were friends, and I guess a little bit of drinking and poker went the wrong way," said Rodriguez.

The man who was shot multiple times is still in the hospital, but he's expected to survive.  Police did not have information about injuries sustained by Mcleod.

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