CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Surveillance pictures released by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police show a man in a ski mask who shot and killed Ismael Doumbia at the Shell station on Freedom Drive in west Charlotte in last summer.
CMPD worked the case for months and in September 2019 police arrested a suspect, Desmond Logan.
Logan spent five months in jail before charges were dropped.
“I missed my kid’s holidays and I’m still trying to work that out,” Logan said. “I just lost a lot of people. I lost things. I lost my job. It was tough.”
Court documents show how the charges came and went.
[ PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Charges dropped against man accused of gunning down Charlotte gas station clerk ]
A couple of weeks after the murder, police said a person who was in the Shell earlier that night came to them and claimed to have seen a man named “Buck” remove a mask and walk down a side street near the convenience store.
Police showed the person a photo of Logan and they identified him as “Buck.” Officers then went and got an arrest warrant.
The case unraveled. A witness in the store with an unobstructed view of the gunman described him as 6 feet tall. Logan is less than 5 feet, 8 inches. The gunman in the surveillance video fired the weapon with his right hand. When Logan was interviewed, he used his left hand to sign and initial documents.
Police also tried to place Logan at the scene through cellphone records but they yielded negative results.
"In light of the fact that another eyewitness's description and the video evidence appear to directly contradict the statement of the charged individual, the State cannot meet its burden of proof and must dismiss these charges in the interest of justice," court documents state.
When his charges were officially dismissed, Logan told Channel 9 he is thankful.
“The only thing I could think about was them locking me up and sending me to prison and keeping me for years until they find out I’m innocent,” he said. “And it hurt, it hurt real bad.”
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