CLOVER — A springtime shooting at a Little League baseball game in Clover wasn’t an isolated incident.
Instead, it would play a role in an eight-month investigation, which was already underway, by several law enforcement agencies across three counties. They would lock up 10 men and dismantle a cocaine and fentanyl operation working out of a barber shop in Clover.
“For those of you that wonder about whether or not narcotics are a victimless crime, when you look at what goes on with narcotics and the violent crime that surrounds trafficking, they go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly,” York County Solicitor Kevin Brackett said. “Half of my homicides are drug-related.”
The York County Sheriff’s Office announced Sept. 23 the completion of the investigation with several charges filed on Sept. 4. The investigation was the work of the York County Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit and involved law enforcement personnel from three counties.
“The work they’re doing doesn’t just interdict narcotics,” Brackett said, “It also reduces violent crime.”
The March 26 gunfire at Roosevelt Community Park, where a baseball game was being held, was a catalyst to intensify the investigation, York County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Trent Faris said. No one was injured that day, but investigators tied the shooting to a drug dispute stemming from a business less than a mile away.
The drug dealing was happening at Alexander’s Barber Shop and Quick Stop in the 500 block of Kings Mountain Street, officers said. As of Sept. 23, the phone for the business was disconnected.
One of the men involved, Cornell Anthony Tucker, lived at the shop. He was charged with two counts of distribution of marijuana within proximity of a school or park.