Police in Fargo have made an arrest in connection to a homicide over the weekend.
Authorities are still searching for a suspect in connection to a shooting in the 50 block of Broadway in downtown Fargo in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 3. Three men were shot there, and one, Azeem Holmes, was killed. Another man, Elijah Hughes, was shot and killed not long afterward in the 4700 block of 16th Avenue South in Fargo. C’Aundre Douglas was apprehended in Jamestown for the killing of Holmes. Fargo Police Captain Bill Ahlfeldt says Douglas was wanted on two other warrants stemming from shots-fired incidents in July.
"We're working closely with the Cass County State's Attorney's Office, as they pursue charges against Douglas for all three of these potentially deadly incidents within the city."
Ahlfeldt says authorities are still searching for the suspect in the downtown shooting.
"We are still in the process of apprehending suspect 19-year-old Tyrque Jones for the murder of Azeem Holmes on August 3rd. That was the incident that occurred in the 50 block of Broadway. He is considered to be armed and dangerous. Any information on his whereabouts should be given to the Fargo Police Department through the tip line, or TIP411."
One of the shooting victims is still in critical condition. The other was treated and released.
Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski has come under heavy criticism for his response to the incidents. An initial press briefing was not held until Monday afternoon, a full 36 hours after the shootings took place. When asked about the delayed response, Zibolksi said he was off on Sunday, which has since been met with continued scrutiny. Zibolski said at Tuesday’s briefing he acknowledged that Monday’s press conference went sideways, and that he plans to work with Mayor Tim Mahoney on a more comprehensive communication protocol going forward. Two city commissioners have called for his resignation.
Zibolski has pressed the city for additional funding to hire more police officers, despite his citing that crime in Fargo is down. He says the perception is debatable – but he’s trying to get ahead of what he perceives to be more of an issue in the future as the Fargo metro area continues to grow.
"The cops that we have are working a lot of hours. When you look at our overtime statistics and our ability to staff shifts, we need more people across the board at all levels of the organization. From top to bottom, we don't have enough people in our organization to be on the street, to supervise, to manage, etcetera. So, while we are safe, my comments have always been in a lot of the budget discussions is, we're fortunate that we're this safe and that our folks are coming in at three in the morning and doing this job, and they're out every day on their shift doing this job. But that is not sustainable. So that's my message of alarm going forward; we need to build our staff up, because down the road, we're not going to be able to cut it with the staff that we have. People are going to burn out."