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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.

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.

A Savannah man was charged with multiple offenses after trying to fire a weapon at a Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police officer and another man.

Quintavious Jron Lee, 19, of Port Wentworth has been charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of a firearm in committing a crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, pointing a weapon at another, carrying a pistol without a license, obstruction of a law enforcement officer and loitering and prowling after the incident in Yamacraw Village May 18.

Lee and another male were being questioned about 5:40 p.m. by an officer who noticed they fit the description of suspects in two robberies in the area.

The other man was placed in handcuffs when he resisted being searched for a weapon, and Lee backed away and started running.

"As he did, he dropped a pistol, stopped, retrieved the weapon, squared his stance and pointed it at the officer and the other man. He pulled the trigger but the gun misfired," police say.

The officer threw the other man to the ground and protected him but did not attempt to fire at Lee because of several people, including children, who were in the immediate area.

Lee was taken into custody by other officers who were saturating the area. He has a record with SCMPD extending back to 2010 when he was 17, including aggravated battery, disrupting public schools, obstruction of a police officer and two probation violations.

SCMPD Robbery Unit detectives are investigating the two robberies in an attempt to determine who was involved.

Speaking to the largest graduating class in Savannah State University history, Retired Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears of the Georgia Supreme Court is guest speaker at SSU's 182nd commencement ceremony at 9 a.m., Saturday, May 4, 2013, in T.A. Wright Stadium.

More than 350 students will receive undergraduate and graduate degrees during the ceremony — the largest graduating class in SSU history.

• Leah Ward Sears

By the appointment of former Gov. Zell Miller in 1992, she became the first woman and youngest person ever to sit on the Georgia Supreme Court. In retaining her Supreme Court post later that year, Sears also became the first woman in Georgia to win a contested statewide election.

Detectives have charged two additional men with the March 20 murder of Achmed Kiwaan Williams and seek help from the public in locating them.

Warrants were secured Thursday against Germaine Remond Grant, 23, and Terrell Akeem Nelson, 18.

• Germaine Remond Grant

Grant is a black male standing 5-7 and about 120 pounds.

• Terrell Akeem Nelson

Nelson is a black male standing 6-2 and about 190 pounds.

Police already charged and arrested Ashley Maurice Hudson, 31, with the murder on April 10. He was located in the same house where Williams was shot to death on the 1100 block of East 54th Street.

Savannah-Chatham Police are investigating the shooting death of a Savannah man at his tire business/repair shop.

Armondo Montes, 30, owner of Brothers Tire Repair at Hampstead Avenue and White Bluff Road, was found dead in front of the business when responding patrol officers arrived at 12:29 p.m. today

A suspect turned himself in to Military Police at Hunter Army Air Field near the shooting scene a few minutes later.

Detectives are investigating the shooting that has been linked to a personal dispute between the two men. The name of the suspect has not been released.

A side effect of the "improvements to State Route 204 /Abercorn Extension and the King George Boulevard interchange" is that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are sponsoring an archeological excavation "relevant to the area of the expansion project," according to a spokesman.

New South Associates of Stone Mountain, Georgia, is conducting Phase III archaeological excavation at the Abercorn Archaeology site. Rita Elliott, Public Archaeologist for the project noted, "It is fortunate that DOT has a project in this area, as that entity takes seriously its archaeological obligations here, ensuring that the information from the site is saved to benefit the public now and also future generations who will study, re-interpret, and learn from it."

Excavation and studies began in February and are expected to be completed at the end of May.

This archeological site could contain a large amount of historical materials and clues to the history of Chatham County citizens lifestyles dating from the 1790s-1860s. Due to the preliminary studies it is believed that there could be remnants of plantation sites, as well as Civil War artifacts due to a portion of a Civil War camp occupied by Union soldiers during General William Sherman's March to the Sea.

Pamela Baughman, archaeologist with Georgia DOT’s Office of Environmental Services, overseeing this site for the department stated, “The site has a lot to contribute to archaeology regarding our understanding of plantation and Civil War history in the Savannah area. The live oak tree is a recognized part of this historic property and is a unique participant, in that it has watched over the evolution of this cultural landscape for nearly 400 years. We have asked the designers, project managers and even the archaeologists while they are digging, to preserve it so that it can observe the evolution of the landscape yet to come.”

Free guided tours started this week and continue through May 11 on Tuesday through Saturday at 8:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Check out this project on Facebook.

A general info meeting for the proposed new Wilmiington Island Farmers Market will be 7 p.m. Thursday May 2 at the Frank G. Murray Community Center, 160 Whitemarsh Island Way. They'll "chat about its progress, describes its goals and visions and open up the floor to any questions."

The Farmers Market holds a Lowcountry Boil/silent auction fundraiser 6-9 p.m. May 18 at Morningstar Marina, 2812 River Dr. Cost is $25/person, mail in your check with your email address on it to the following address:

WIFM
PO Box 30482
Savannah, GA 31410

Biologists monitoring the imperiled whales that usually give birth off the coast of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina documented 20 cow/calf pairs this winter — 19 in the Southeast and one in Cape Cod Bay.

While the annual average since 2000 is 21, this year’s total was a "far cry" from the seven calves in 2012, according to researchers.

Clay George, who heads right whale research for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, said the population is increasing at an estimated 2 percent per year.

Although calf production can vary widely year to year, a string of poor calving seasons could reverse the upward trend. There are only about 450 North Atlantic right whales left and fewer than 100 breeding females.

“It was another average season, which is just what we needed after such a poor showing last season,” said George, a wildlife biologist with the DNR Wildlife Resources Division’s Nongame Conservation Section.

Right whales swim from Canada and New England each year to bear their young in the Southeast’s warmer waters. DNR’s Nongame Conservation and Law Enforcement sections, along with the Coastal Resources Division, help staff from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and other agencies monitor whales, respond to injured, entangled or dead whales, collect genetic samples for research and protect right whale habitat.

Researchers from Sea to Shore Alliance, NOAA and Florida Fish and Wildlife conduct aerial surveys along the South Carolina, Georgia and Florida coast during the cooler months. Survey teams send sighting information to the shipping industry, military vessels, and biologists conducting research from boats. The season’s last flight off South Carolina was April 15.

So far, six of the mom/calf pairs seen this winter in the Southeast have been documented in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, according to researchers with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Cape Cod Bay is a key feeding habitat for right whales.

Three of the whales with calves had once been entangled in fishing gear, including a mom named “Equator” that DNR and others disentangled from trap/pot fishing gear in 2008. Entanglement in fishing gear and vessel collisions are the leading causes of death and injury for this endangered species.

One previously entangled whale, nicknamed “Wart,” was seen in Cape Cod Bay with a new calf. The pair was not seen in the Southeast this winter.

Only 15 non-breeding right whales were observed in the Southeast, mainly juveniles and adult males. For comparison, 45 and 99 non-breeding whales were spotted during the 2011-2012 and 2010-2011 seasons, respectively. George said it’s not known why those numbers have declined in recent years.

Seventeen of the 19 calves seen in the Southeast were sampled for genetics.

Twelve humpback whales and two fin whales were also spotted.

A 2-year-old right whale washed up dead on a north Florida beach Dec. 18. Preliminary findings suggest it died from entanglement. A length of rope more than two football fields long was wrapped around its tail. No other entangled whales were seen.

The operator of a recreational boat reported hitting what he thought was a right whale on Dec. 7. No injured or dead whale was found. Also, a calf was photographed in January with skeg and propeller wounds indicative of being struck by a recreational boat.