Tyler

No one was injured Friday afternoon when more than a dozen rounds were fired into the backyard of a Tyler home.

Tyler Police Department officers responded to a report of shots fired in the 200 block of North Forest Avenue at around 1:30 p.m.

Upon arrival, four men told the officers they were standing in the backyard of a home when two men walked up and opened fire.

Police said the victims identified their two assailants as 20-year-old Eric Lamar Erskine and 21-year-old Brandon Deshun Hawkins, both of Tyler.

While investigating the scene, police saw Erskine drive by in a vehicle. Officers pursued the man for several blocks before he got out of his vehicle and started a foot pursuit. He was eventually apprehended.

According to a media release from the Tyler Police Department, officers are still looking for Hawkins, the second suspect in the shooting.

Police are asking anyone with information on the location of Brandon Hawkins to contact the Tyler Police Department, at 903-531-1000, or Crimestoppers, at 903-597-CUFF. Crimestoppers will pay up to $1,000 for information that leads to the arrest and charges filed against the suspect in this case or any felony case.

Updated Friday, July 18, 2008 at 5:01 p.m. CDT

Eric Erskine
(Courtesy Smith County Sheriff)