Police failed to apprehend the main suspect in the shootings that left three dead, including two former Auburn football players, during a raid on a home Monday evening.
Police received at least two credible tips the suspect, Desmonte Leonard, 22, was hiding in a home in Montgomery, Ala., but after firing tear gas and ultimately raiding the home, the search turned out to be all for naught.
Leonard is charged with three counts of capital murder after opening fire on a pool party near the Auburn campus. Former Auburn players Edward Christian, who had to quit the team because of a lingering back injury, and Ladarious Phillips, who had quit the team in the spring, were murdered, as was 20-year-old Demario Pitts.
Current Auburn football player Eric Mack and Xavier Moss were injured but treated and released from the hospital. Another man, John Robertson, remains in the hospital in critical condition after suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
Authorities went through the attic, the air ducts, drilled holes in the walls and ripped out drywall while performing their search and came up empty. Police also said thermal imaging showed someone was in the attic of the house and that they heard coughing coming from that area, but the search turned up nothing.
Now, they're investigating the two tips that led them to the house, including one from a person who said they had dropped Leonard off there earlier in the day.
"We will vigorously pursue any individual who provides false or misleading information to law enforcement about Mr. Leonard," said Martha Earnhardt, spokeswoman for Montgomery's Public Safety Department.
Earnhardt also said charges could be brought against anyone providing false information to the police.
However, Auburn Police Department chief Tommy Dawson told the Montgomery Advertiser that he didn't think the police raided the wrong house.
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