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A 22-year-old Savannah man is charged with two felonies and a misdemeanor after instigating a neighborhood search by telling Metro Police he was shot in a robbery.

Dennis Gregory Johnson, 22, of the 1100 block of East 55th street, actually shot himself, police say. He has been charged with false report of a crime, false statements and writing and possession of marijuana.

He was treated at Memorial University Medical Center and then transferred to the Chatham County Detention Center.

Johnson initially walked up to an officer conducting a traffic stop at East 58th and Guatemala streets and reported he was walking to the hospital because he had been shot by two males who tried to rob him on his front porch.

Detectives, however, confirmed patrol officers’ suspicions by determining he had shot himself and repeatedly insisted he was injured in a robbery.

Bea Wray has been named the new executive director of The Creative Coast. She will begin May 20.

Wray's application was one of about 300 for the job previously held by Jake Hodesh, who returned to his native Ohio.

Wray, however, has Savannah roots. Both parents are Savannah High grads and "both of her grandmothers worked on Broughton Street," according to the announcement.

Creative Coast board president Dana Braun said, “The Board is confident that under her direction, The Creative Coast will be taken to the next level.”

Wray has contributed to Savannah’s Creative Coast for more than a decade. She brought investors and entrepreneurs to StartUp Lounge, served as a FastPitch coach, has been a featured speaker at the brown bag lunch series on the Georgia Tech Savannah campus, and contributed to the ATDC Executive Roundtable.

She is part of the StartupChicks Savannah leadership team encouraging female entrepreneurs and served on the board of the Coastal Venture Investment Forum. She has also participated in the Ariel Savannah Angel Partners and partnered with Seacoast Synergy.

Wray has an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Emory University.

The District Attorney's office announced that on May 9, 2013 a jury found Raynard Lamar Lexie, 20, Savannah, guilty of: three counts of Aggravated Assault, Kidnapping, Aggravated Sodomy, Burglary and Armed Robbery for his involvement in the home invasion and assault of two SCAD students in 2012.

On the evening of September 21, 2012, the victim, a student at SCAD, arrived home at 7:25pm to her Waldburg Street address in downtown Savannah.

"As she approached her front door, she was assaulted by two men wielding guns. The men forced her into her home and led her into a back bedroom. The pair then began ransacking the house for items to steal; finding a phone, laptop computers, a camera and cash money. While being held in the back bedroom against her will, one man sexually assaulted the victim at gunpoint," a spokesperson relates.

As the men were exiting the residence, the victim’s roommate was arriving home. The fleeing men burst through the front door; running into the roommate. The roommate subsequently fell backwards onto the sidewalk, breaking her leg. The roommate’s cries for help were heard by a neighbor, who called police.

Lexie was apprehended minutes later at a friend’s apartment in Frazier Homes and positively identified by the victim.
Sentencing will be at a later date.

Police are trying to identify the name and gender of the driver in a single-vehicle crash this morning that killed both occupants.

Jennifer M. McLaughlin, 30, died at Memorial University Medical Center where she was transported after an officer pulled her out of her burning car about 5:30 a.m.

The driver of the tan Oldsmobile 88 also died in the fiery crash.

The car had sped away from an officer who approached it on foot when he saw it parked at the Islands Expressway boat ramp moments earlier. It "narrowly missed a patrol car on Goebel Avenue and crashed into several trees at Foster Street, erupting into flames," a spokesman says.

The SCMPD Major Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) continues to investigate the crash.

Dollhouse Productions will host two unique all-ages shows to finish off the month of May.

No Control and Dollhouse announce a night of local acts to perform an end-of-school show featuring Cusses, Makeout Club, Crazy Bag Lady, and Grimey.

It happens Thursday, May 23, 8 p.m., at Dollhouse Productions, 980 Industry Dr. just west of downtown, and it will be Cusses' first performance in Savannah after a US spring tour.

“We are so excited to be back in Savannah to play in front of our favorite crowd, and we cannot wait to play our first gig at Dollhouse!” states Angel Bond, lead singer.

The show's part of a fundraiser for Cusses and the kick-off of their Kickstarter campaign to help raise money for their sophomore album and upcoming summer tour of the UK.

Tix are $8 at the door. Go here for more event info.

Also announced is the "Endless Summer Festival," an all-ages show featuring six acts, presented by Safe//Sound. That happens Sat.,. May 25, doors opening at 5 p.m., also at Dollhouse.

Acts for the May 25 Endless Summer Fest include Triathalon and breakout UK artist, the Irish rapper Rejjie Snow.

Tix are $7 advance, $10 door; go here for more info.

Homicide detectives are investigating the shooting death of a 47-year-old Savannah man outside a Montgomery Street bar this morning.

Darin Manigo was transported from Sharon’s Lounge in the 600 block of Montgomery Street to Memorial University Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Detectives said he was in front of the bar when a man walked up and shot him, then ran away at 2:23 a.m.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crimestoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward. A confidential Tip Line also is open directly to investigators at (912) 525-3124.

Detectives are seeking witnesses to a confrontation on West Broughton Street early this morning that left two victims with gunshot wounds.

Vaughn Cornelia, 20, was transported to Memorial University Medical Center and taken to surgery. Mamie Smith, 20, was transported to the same hospital by private automobile with a non-life threatening wound.

As many as 100 people were present near Broughton and Jefferson streets as the confrontation took place just before 3 a.m.

A Savannah-Chatham Police officer was near the intersection when several shots were fired and he moved into the large crowd to find Cornelia being placed in a car. "He advised that an ambulance was in route and began first aid for Cornelia as other officers tended to the unruly crowd and secured the scene," according to police.

Gunfire also broke windows of two businesses and additional officers were assigned to the hospital, "where several bystanders announced they would follow victims." No issues were reported there.

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crimestoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward. A confidential Tip Line also is open directly to investigators at (912) 525-3124.

A Savannah man who escaped from a transitional center and tried to elude capture in a canoe without a paddle was arrested by Metro, state and federal officers this afternoon.

Frederick Neil Rushing, 36, was apprehended by Marine Patrol Officers and officers from Metro’s helicopter Eagle One, aided by Islands Precinct Crime Suppression and Patrol officers, Georgia Department of Natural Resources officers and members of the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.

Rushing had tried to escape from officers investigating a theft from the visitor’s center of Wormsloe Plantation by paddling away in a plastic canoe using only his hands about 4:15 p.m. His broken paddle was found in a camp he had set up on the state-owned plantation property.

Isle of Hope residents had alerted officers of a man living in the woods before today’s reports. Police already had identified him as the runaway from the Georgia Coastal Transitional Center before the helicopter pilot led Marine Patrol officers to the canoe at another camp about 6 p.m. They found him hiding under the canoe on Long Island, between Wormsloe and Skidaway Island.

A warrant charging him with escape had been issued April 8. Detectives are investigating thefts and burglaries in the area in an attempt to determine if a connection could exist.

California’s groove-heavy Greyboy Allstars will headline SCAD’s “New Alumni Concert” Friday, May 31 in Forsyth Park.

The jazz/funk band, formed 10 years ago by DJ Andreas Stevens and tenor sax player Karl Denson, have a new album out (minus Stevens, the original “DJ Greyboy”): Inland Emperor, says allmusic.com, is “a menagerie of sounds that are so evocative and mood-setting, they almost work as a soundtrack to a film.”

Also on the bill for the school’s end-of-semester show are Atlanta’s Gringo Star, a longtime Savannah favorite, and R&B singer, songwriter and producer Mayer Hawthorne.

The 6 p.m. concert is free and open to the public.

A police stakeout helped recover two automobiles but police still seek as many as four men involved in burglaries reported in Chatham and Bryan Counties.

A Nissan Altima identified as a vehicle used in the burglaries was located at an apartment complex on Laroche Avenue. Undercover officers in unmarked cars awaited occupants to return to it when a blue Chevrolet Impala drove up with four males in it.

They sped away from the scene in the two cars, prompting one officer to fire his weapon when the Impala drove toward other officers, but no one was hit.

With a metro helicopter keeping the Impala in sight, Islands Precinct traffic and crime suppression Unit and canine and aviation officers followed it through east Savannah and the Waters Avenue corridor before it crashed into a curb at Atlantic Boulevard and Seiler Avenue about 4 p.m.

The occupants escaped on foot. The Altima was located abandoned on Martha Street. Islands Precinct detectives continue to investigate.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637). Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.