Domestic call leads to shooting suspect’s arrest

A call about a domestic dispute Thursday led to the arrest of a man wanted in a central Columbia shooting.

Columbia police arrested Sylvester L. Franklin Jr., 33, after finding him at a mobile home court on Vandiver Drive. Franklin was also wanted on warrants for first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with a June shooting.

Police arrested Sylvester after a woman called saying he had threatened her and was trying to hurt her, according to a probable cause statement filed in the case. The woman later left the mobile home where she and Franklin lived by jumping out of the window and police entered the home and arrested Franklin.

Franklin is also accused in a shooting June 14 in central Columbia in which a man was grazed by a bullet, according to a probable cause statement. Police found a vehicle with bullet holes in the 500 block of Washington Avenue and tracked down a person who had been grazed by a bullet, the statement said.

The shooting victim told police he and a friend confronted Franklin about clothing Franklin had stolen and when they left Franklin shot at their car, according to the probable cause statement.

Franklin was jailed on a $150,000 cash-only bond on the charges in the shooting case. Prosecutors charged him with fourth-degree domestic assault and unlawful gun possession in connection with the incident at the mobile home park.

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