SPRINGFIELD — Authorities have yet to make an arrest as police continue to investigate the shooting death of a Springfield man, officials said Monday.
Cagney Aaron Benson, 29, was found in the driver seat of a 2009 Chevy Cobalt Thursday at about 6:30 a.m. The car was parked and not running at an intersection in the Maharaj Mobile Home Park, 518 Everett Ave. Inside the car, Benson lay dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Springfield Police Chief Philip Thorne said investigators have a timeline for when the car arrived at the intersection, but no specific suspects have been developed or arrested in the case.
“A lot of folks he ran with are not friends of the police,” Thorne said. “So it is slim pickin's there.”
After Springfield Police were initially called at 6:30 a.m. to the suspicious Chevy at the intersection, Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigators took the lead on the homicide investigation. Police have not released many details in their investigation.
Thorne said authorities do not have a timeline for Benson’s activities the night before the shooting. Benson suffered multiple gunshot wounds, at least once shot in the head. And authorities believe he was shot while at the intersection some time between 3:30 and 6:30 a.m., Thorne said.
“We had a robbery in the area the night before, so we had people out,” he added. “The assistant chief drove through there at 3:30 a.m., and the car wasn’t there. That gives us a time range for the shooting.”
Nearby residents of the working class neighborhood did not hear gunshots during that time, leading some to conclude Benson was shot elsewhere and transported to the intersection. Benson was found nearly a mile from his listed address. However, Thorne said official reports support the investigation theory that the shooting took place at the intersection, he said.
“We believe from medical examiner reports, it occurred there,” Thorne said.