Crime

Man fatally shot in east Columbus marks city’s 4th homicide this month

Columbus marked its fourth homicide of the new year Wednesday when a man was mortally wounded on Sweetwater Drive on the city’s east side.

Doctors pronounced Joseph L. Dukes dead at 4:44 p.m. at the Piedmont Columbus Regional emergency room, said Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan. Dukes, 35, had multiple gunshot wounds, Bryan said.

In a news release Thursday morning, Columbus police said officers learned of the shooting when they were called to a traffic accident at 3:45 p.m. in the 600 block of Moye Road, where they found Dukes wounded and lying on the ground, before he was rushed to the hospital.

Sweetwater Drive is off Buena Vista Road, just west of where it intersects with Schatulga Road. Moye Road is just south of that area, along the Fort Benning border.

The other fatal shootings this year were on Jan. 6, Jan. 7 and Jan. 11.

By this time last year, the city had reported six homicides.

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This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 8:04 PM.

Tim Chitwood
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Tim Chitwood is from Seale, Alabama, and started as a police beat reporter with the Ledger-Enquirer in 1982. He since has covered Columbus’ serial killings and other homicides, following some from the scene of the crime to trial verdicts and ensuing appeals. He also has been a Ledger-Enquirer humor columnist since 1987. He’s a graduate of Auburn University, and started out working for the weekly Phenix Citizen in Phenix City, Ala.
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