‘Nothing but chaos.’ Neighbors speak out after fatal Phenix City shooting near Riverwalk

One man is dead and another is in stable condition after a shooting Monday night near the Riverwalk in Phenix City.

Tyrese Nelson, 20, from Columbus died Jan. 6 from multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said.

Phenix City police got three calls about the shooting: Around 8:20 p.m., the first call reported shots being fired in the area of 19th Street and First Avenue. The second call reported someone who had been shot was at the CVS Pharmacy on Summerville Road at Pierce Road.

Then police got a third call from Piedmont Columbus Regional regarding a male brought to the hospital after being wounded by gunfire in Phenix City.

Investigators said two men exchanged shots at Riverwalk parking lot. Both were taken to Piedmont Columbus Regional, where emergency room staff pronounced Nelson dead. The other patient was in stable condition.

Russell County Coroner Arthur Sumbry later identified Nelson as the victim killed. As of Jan. 9, police still had not determined a reason for the shooting that happened at a five-space parking lot by a ramp leading to the Riverwalk.

Neighbors said car break-ins there are frequent.

“It’s mostly in the summertime when everybody’s out and about, you get the car break-ins here,” said Darill Meadows, who lives about a block away. He occasionally hears gunfire in the area, but not as much as he used to, he said: “It’s slowed down a whole lot.”

Another neighbor said he heard four or five shots there Monday evening, but didn’t see who was shooting.

“Ever since they put this (parking lot) right here, it’s been nothing but chaos,” he said.

The lot is across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus’ old City Mills building at First Avenue and 18th Street.

Nelson’s body has been sent to the Alabama Department of Forensics Sciences in Montgomery for an autopsy.

Staff writer Tim Chitwood contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 10:51 AM.