Shooting injures driver on Business 60, drugs found

A Poplar Bluff man is recovering in a St. Louis hospital after he was shot Thursday night in what authorities say was an apparent drug deal gone wrong.

Isaiah Lamar Brown, 20, was flown to Barnes-Jewish Hospital, where he underwent surgery for two gunshot wounds to his left hip area, according to Butler County Chief Deputy Wes Popp. His condition was not known at press time.

“Thursday night, at 8:30, we got two 911 calls reporting a family member (Brown) had been shot inside their vehicle,” said Popp, who indicated the shooting occurred on Business 60 in front of Insta Pawn.

Brown had been shot by “someone who went by them in another vehicle” as Brown was driving his 2007 Chevrolet pickup into Poplar Bluff, Popp said.

Sgt. Richard Bruder arrived within seconds of the 911 calls, Popp said, as he was in a nearby subdivision.

Brown had been placed into the backseat of his truck by his brother and two cousins, Popp said.

“They were applying pressure to his left hip,” he added.

When emergency-medical-services personnel arrived, “they determined he needed to be (flown) from that site,” Popp explained. “… We dropped the helicopter on Business 60. … He was (flown) to Barnes in St. Louis.”

Popp said Brown’s relatives were taken to the sheriff’s department, where they were interviewed.

“Through the interviews, it was found that the subjects (Brown and his passengers) had arrived and met a vehicle and three other people in an (Chevrolet) Impala in the parking lot of Bullwinkles for the purpose of selling narcotics,” Popp said. “For some unknown reason, the sale didn’t go through.

“(The other subjects) didn’t buy, so the victim and his family left the Bullwinkles parking lot to come back into Poplar Bluff.”

Popp said the Impala, described as being either gray or silver, began following Brown’s truck toward town.

“Just before they reached Insta Pawn, the car passes them, with the back passenger window down and a black male firing several shots at them,” Popp said. “ … As soon as he yelled, ‘I’ve been shot. I’ve been shot,’ he pulls over to the side of the road and puts it in park.”

At that point, Popp said, Brown’s relatives called 911 and began to render aid.

While on the scene Thursday night, Popp said, deputies found a plastic bag containing a vacuum-sealed bag of suspected marijuana and a .380-caliber Sig Sauer in the woods near Insta Pawn.

“They (someone from Brown’s truck) tossed it away from the vehicle,” Popp said. “They were hoping we wouldn’t see it, find it.”

The handgun, according to Popp, had been reported stolen from within the city of Poplar Bluff.

On Friday morning, Popp said, Investigator Kellis Thompson processed Brown’s truck and removed several of the fired rounds. Those rounds, he said, will be sent to the crime lab for analysis.

Popp said a total of eight .40-caliber, full-metal jacket rounds struck Brown’s truck.

Four rounds hit the driver’s side door, with another one hitting its side mirror, Popp said.

Additional rounds, he said, hit the rear driver’s side door and “right behind” that door.

Popp said the final round hit the passenger’s side mirror.

Another plastic bag containing a vacuum-sealed bag of suspected marijuana was found under the front passenger seat, said Popp, who described the suspected marijuana as being a “large quantity.”

As part of the investigation, Popp said, officers pulled surveillance videos from various businesses in an attempt to identify the suspects.

Deputies, he said, still are reviewing surveillance videos and pulling cellphone records.

Popp said investigator Brandon Lowe went to the hospital to speak with Brown.

“(Brown) was kind of groggy,” Popp said. “He didn’t know the names of the suspects.

“His recollection coincides with what the others said plus the surveillance videos that were reviewed.”

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the sheriff’s department at 573-785-8444.