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Police continue investigation, man no longer suspected
By Jake Arthur Chief Videographer
“We are just doing fireworks this year,” City of Wetumpka’s Valencia Johnson said. “There are not going to be any extra activities for New Years like in years past. There will be no meteor drop or festival.”
Johnson said the city decided with all the events happening downtown the last couple of months, the city needed to take a small break from a larger celebration.
Police are still investigating the fatal shooting in the Wetumpka Walmart parking lot on Jan. 20.
Police were dispatched to the parking lot around 10:45 p.m. for a “shots fired” call. Once there, they found Centell Winston, 42 of Tallassee, dead of a gunshot wound in the driver seat of his vehicle.
According to Wetumpka police chief Greg Benton, this was not a random shooting.
DeVenney’s meteor drop started with the Elmore County Technical Center with a “meteor” traveling 300 feet down a zipline over 14 seconds.
This year’s celebration will be at Goldstar Park with music over the already installed sound system. A countdown will begin at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31 with fireworks at midnight.
“This was not random, not a random act,” said Benton. “We believe the victim and the perpetrator knew each other.”
This is the first homicide in Wetumpka in over three years. The last homicide in the city took place in 2018.
“It’s not a good way to start out the new year,” said Benton.
Benton didn’t want to speculate on the
“Publix is coming to Wetumpka,” Charlie Trotman with The Trotman Company said. “We are hoping to start construction in late February, early March. From there it takes anywhere from 10 to 11 months to build.”