Erie police charge 19-year-old in ongoing probe of Columbus Park shooting that wounded 2

A basketball game at Columbus Park in west Erie was interrupted on Monday afternoon when a group of people approached the court.

One member of the group asked one of the players if he had something to do with another matter, witnesses told city police.

A group member then pulled out a gun and fired it at the people playing basketball. One of the players said he then retrieved his gun and fired back at the group, according to information in a criminal complaint filed against one of the people charged so far in the ongoing Erie police investigation.

More: 2 teens wounded in Columbus Park shooting as police probe possible link to school fight

City resident Kody J. Gaffney, 19, is accused of being among the group of people who approached the basketball game and fired the first gunshots on Monday at about 3:45 p.m. at the park at West 16th and Poplar streets. Two boys, both 17, were wounded in the shooting.

Erie police took Gaffney into custody on Wednesday morning and charged him with felony counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and aggravated assault, and misdemeanor counts of simple assault, recklessly endangering and corruption of minors.

Erie 3rd Ward District Judge Tom Carney arraigned Gaffney on Wednesday night and placed him in the Erie County Prison on $175,000 bond.

Erie police officers who responded to the shooting at the park, in the city's Little Italy neighborhood, said they found one of the 17-year-old victims on the roadway on West 15th Street with a gunshot wound to his right foot. Officers followed a blood trail that led them to a nearby residence on Cherry Street, where the second victim was found with a gunshot wound through his biceps, police reported on Tuesday.

Both teens were treated at UPMC Hamot.

Detectives wrote in the affidavit of probable cause filed with Gaffney's criminal complaint that one witness reported playing basketball with the two shooting victims and others when several people approached the court. The witness reported hearing one of the people say, "Did you have anything to do with that?" to one of the shooting victims, and believed he heard the victim say no, according to the affidavit.

Investigators said the witness reported seeing one member of the group that approached the game with a handgun in the person's waist area, and within seconds of the exchange of words the person with the gun began to fire in the direction of the people on the basketball court. The witness said he then retrieved his handgun from his bag and fired in the direction of the group, detectives wrote in the affidavit.

The shooting victim who exchanged words with a member of the approaching group told police he was playing basketball when Gaffney and another person approached the court. He said Gaffney directed a statement toward him which sounded as if Gaffney was asking him if he had something to do with an incident. The teen told police he didn't know what Gaffney was talking about, but guessed it may have involved a shooting directed at someone that Gaffney knew, according to information in the affidavit.

The teen told police that before he could answer, gunshots were fired at him and other people on the basketball court from the area where Gaffney was standing, detectives wrote in the affidavit.

Gaffney told police during an interview on Wednesday that he had been at Columbus Park with two other people. He said someone who was playing basketball asked him to come to the park, and as he and the others he was with approached the basketball court an argument occurred and at least two people fired guns, according to information in the affidavit.

Gaffney said one of the people he was with fired a gun toward the people on the basketball court, and everyone ran when the shots were fired, detectives wrote in the affidavit.

Gaffney is tentatively scheduled to appear in court for his preliminary hearing on April 21, according to information in his online court docket sheet.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie man charged in ongoing probe of shooting of 2 at Columbus Park