Police said drugs appear to be behind a shooting that left one man dead near the J.C. Napier public housing development Tuesday evening.
Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Stephen Carlton, 29, of Hermitage was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Dollar General Store at 78 Lafayette St. after he met two men there to allegedly sell them two pounds of marijuana.
One of the suspects shot Carlton, before the two ran from the scene. Police said a friend of Carlton’s hid the marijuana in some bushes, but police recovered it later.
Police have not arrested anyone in the shooting but said they’ve made “significant progress” in identifying the gunman.
Carlton was out on parole on a robbery conviction in Montgomery County, according to police.