Police investigating deadly shooting in downtown Asheville early Sunday morning

By John Harbin

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Asheville Police are investigating the city’s ninth homicide.

Police say at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday morning, officers were patrolling downtown when they heard gunshots.

After searching the area of Spruce Street, just north of College Street, police say they saw a number of people running and that’s when they found 24-year-old Jamel Tyjon Grant lying on the ground. They say he had been shot “multiple times in the back.”

Officers provided emergency trauma care until emergency personnel arrived and took Grant to Mission Hospital.

He died at the hospital.

Investigators say they have identified a person of interest and were able to obtain important physical evidence from the crime scene.

Grant’s family has been notified.

The is also the seventh homicide in the city by firearm, police said.

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