One Shot, Another Injured in Shooting at Card Game

by: Major Keith Riddick

     Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputies and Detectives were called to a reported shooting at 101 Carole Road in Palatka, just before 11:30pm on 4/17/2008. Putnam County Sheriff's Office Communications personnel were initially told that three subjects had been shot, but ultimately it was learned that one person had been shot and one person had been injured fleeing the residence.
     The investigation has revealed, so far, that the victim, 45 year old Freeman G. Turner of Palatka, was at the location playing cards with several acquaintances. At approximately 11:15 the front door of the house was kicked open and a single armed assailant rushed into the home. The subject yelled several expletives, before firing two shots from a gun. Turner was struck in the hip by one of the gunshots. Turner and the others ran from the home, to a nearby neighbor who called for help. He was flown to Shands Hospital in Gainesville for treatment. At last report Turner was in stable condition.
     Putnam County Sheriff's Office Detectives continue to investigate the incident at this time. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 386-329-0800 or call Crimestoppers at 1-888-277-8477 to be eligible for a reward.

(Turner was the witness who discovered the bodies of the three murder victims that had been killed after an all night poker game on Carver Street in Palatka on February 16th. At this time, there is nothing to indicate that these two incidents are related.)