'It's in our front yard': Broad Street businesses, police discuss crime in downtown Augusta

After a fatal shooting early Sunday morning that claimed the life of a 21-year-old in downtown Augusta, local businesses and police are weighing in on crime in the area and discussing potential solutions to the issues at hand.

Logan Etterle, of Thomson, was shot at 10th and Broad streets and pronounced dead at 2:56 a.m. Sunday. Keyon Smiley, who was shot in the right ankle during the incident, was arrested and charged with one count of murder Monday afternoon, according to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

On Tuesday, the Savannah Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force located and arrested D'Andre Tandy in North Augusta. He is being detained in Aiken.

In 2022, there have been three aggravated assault incidents with a gun on Broad Street, however, Sunday's shooting was its first homicide, according to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.

"Most people that are coming downtown are not looking for trouble," said Chief Deputy Patrick Clayton with the sheriff's office. "On the other hand, we're finding a very small portion of these people seem to be coming downtown looking for trouble – and they're the ones that wind up finding it."

What happens after hours?

Clayton said the sheriff's office analyzes every shooting and tries to come up with solutions to ensure the same thing does not happen again. In regard to the shooting at 10th and Broad streets Sunday morning, Clayton said the department is looking at the proximity of a food truck that stays open after the bars close downtown.

"That particular bar [near the shooting location] had closed for all practical purposes," he said. "What we found was there was a food truck that was in that vicinity."

The food truck plays loud music after bars close, attracting people who are leaving the bars, Clayton said.

Although he did not specify which food truck was nearby, Margaret Woodard, executive director for the Downtown Development Authority of Augusta, said in an email Wednesday afternoon that starting this weekend, "the Wing Food Truck will no longer be downtown at 10th & Broad."

K's Buffalo Wings released a statement on Facebook on Wednesday afternoon after being asked to relocate.

"Unfortunately, due to last weekends events at 10th & Broad Street, the property owners have requested we no longer operate our food truck there," the statement reads. "We appreciate all of your support over the years in Downtown Augusta."

Another issue with late night outdoor gatherings on Broad Street is a decrease in security when special duty officers who are normally monitoring the bars leave after the businesses close, according to Clayton.

"In [Sunday's] case, they had left to go home," he said. "But some of these people were staying around and go into the food truck."

Woodard said the sheriff's office will be addressing this issue by ramping up police presence and asking special duty officers to stay an extra 30 minutes after businesses close to make sure crowds have dispersed.

"Especially as we get into the hot summer months, tempers can flare a lot more easily," Clayton said. "So during the summer months, we're going to try to have more of a focused presence of officers when they're letting the bars out because that seems to be the time we have the most problems."

The 'pros and cons' of growth

Ginger Vintson, manager of Flowers on Broad at 1018 Broad St., said with growth comes criminal activity.

"We've been here for eight years, so we've been through a lot of the revitalization and we're so thankful to see the growth of downtown," Vintson said. "But there are pros and cons – while we've brought businesses and people downtown to enjoy what Augusta has to offer, there's also the bars that are open late. It's a younger crowd that you get downtown at night than what you get here during the day. Where there tends to be large groups, there tends to be large problems, and that's what we're seeing a lot more of."

Vintson said the shop is fortunate that it has not had any major incidents.

"We've had broken glass and then we have the homeless that come in, but you can generally get them away without anything happening," she said.

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However, she said the shop does not stay open for First Friday because of safety concerns.

"We don't want to risk employees' safety," Vintson said. "We have a lot of late weekends because of weddings on Saturday, so our showroom is locked and we just use the back where we're able to maintain the comings and goings."

She said the criminal activity hitting closer to home has prompted new safety measures.

"It's uncomfortable that it's getting so close to the shop," Vintson said. "Before, it was lower Broad Street and now it's worked it's way up closer and closer and it's getting scary that it's on our corner now – it's in our front yard. We practice the safety that we can and none of the employees travel alone so if anything were to happen, they have somebody there that can help."

Cole Collier, an employee at Metro Coffee House at nearby 1054 Broad St., said for the most part, he thinks it is pretty safe downtown.

"Everything is just pretty stressful right now with all of this big change happening," Collier said. "America is distracting everyone – I feel like it's mostly just a big uproar of unhappiness. The people who are having a bad day are coming downtown just like everybody else in Augusta does and they just take it a little too far."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Broad street businesses, police discuss crime in downtown Augusta