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Shooting suspect in custody
0524 Jared Hartfield
Jared Hartfield

One Effingham County man is in the hospital and another is in jail after a shooting early Thursday morning in a Springfield mobile home park.

Randy Kareem Roberts, 21, is at Memorial Health University Center after being shot multiple times in his arms and legs, according to the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office.

Jared Hartfield, 41, of Springfield is charged with aggravated assault. He is being held in the Effingham County Jail.

Shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday, the sheriff’s office received multiple calls of gunshots being fired and people screaming on Quail Run Circle. Deputies arrived and saw blood on the ground outside one of the mobile homes, said ECSO spokesman Detective David Ehsanipoor.

Witnesses said two men had gotten into a dispute and one began shooting at the other. Based on evidence at the scene, investigators determined eight to 10 shots were fired.

“The crime scene covered about 150 yards,” Ehsanipoor said, because the gunman was “chasing the victim and shooting at him.”

Witnesses told deputies that a neighbor drove Roberts to nearby Effingham Hospital. Roberts had five gunshot wounds, Ehsanipoor said, and he was taken to the trauma center at Memorial.

Investigators identified Hartfield as the shooter after interviewing Roberts and bystanders. Hartfield and Roberts both live in Quail Run Mobile Home Park, according to Ehsanipoor, and they appear to have been arguing about a woman they both know.

“They know each other and this was definitely not a random shooting,” Ehsanipoor said. “The victim was targeted.”