Two men were arrested Tuesday after an apparent dispute over money turned into a shooting incident at the Midler Meadows Trailer Park at 407 North Midler Ave.
According to police, at approximately 12:57 p.m., on Tuesday, Dec. 12, officers from the DeWitt Police Department responded to the trailer park after several 911 calls were made about a man with a gun that opened fire on an occupied parked vehicle. Prior to patrol units arriving on scene, the suspect, along with an accomplice, fled the area in what witnesses described as a dark colored Mitsubishi with red rims. No injuries were reported.
A short time later, DeWitt police officers located the vehicle and the suspects at the Motel 6 on Baptist Way off Carrier Circle, where the two men were taken into custody without incident. Detectives from the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division were called to the scene to assist with the investigation and the subsequent recovery of the weapon used, which was identified as a shotgun.
Detectives charged Gerald Clapper, 60, and Alex Ortiz, 27, both of Syracuse, with reckless endangerment in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. Both men were expected to be arraigned in the Town of DeWitt Court Tuesday evening.
Detectives say a dispute over money appears to be the motive in the shooting.
The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office and the Town of DeWitt Police Department conducted the joint investigation.
