TWO FACE DRUG CHARGES AFTER GUN BATTLE

Mobile police discovered large amounts of cocaine and marijuana in a sport
utility vehicle that overturned Thursday during a gun battle at a gasoline
service station on Dauphin Street.

No one was injured in the mid-afternoon melee and police arrested two men,
identified as Maravious Lang, 27, and Kenji Crutchfield, 23, both of
Compton, Calif., believed to be gang members, according to a police
spokesman. Both men were charged with trafficking cocaine and marijuana and
taken to police headquarters for further questioning, police said.

Frank Buckner of Mobile said he witnessed the shootout while he was sitting
at the traffic light at Dauphin Street and Interstate 65 near the Amoco
station where the shootout occurred.

He said he heard shots fired in the parking lot of the service station and
turned to see what was happening.

By the time Buckner turned around, he said, Lang, who was in a wheelchair,
was trying to get out of the sports utility vehicle. Buckner said he went
to help get Lang out of the vehicle.

"I imagine he was pretty shook up. I know I was," he said.

Police Cpl. Pat Mitchell said officers responded to a call of "shots
fired," and when they arrived, they saw the overturned SUV. Mitchell said
officers searched the area for a third suspect who had fled the scene.

Dianne Scholl of Mobile, an employee at the Amoco station, said she also
witnessed the shootout. She said one of the men, who was later identified
as Crutchfield, had just paid for gas and was walking to his car when an
old red truck pulled up catacorner to his car.

"All of a sudden, the passenger jumped out and started shooting at the
guy," she said. "He took off running towards Wendy's and kept shooting."
After going in to call the police, she said she walked out just in time to
see the red truck pull off towards the interstate.

Buckner said that a civilian tried to follow the red truck as it pulled out
of the service station to get the tag number.

"They chased him down I-65 and then (the truck) disappeared," he said.

Police would not confirm that a red truck was somehow involved in the shooting.

Narcotics and drug enforcement agents were called in to assess the site,
Mitchell said.

A drug-sniffing dog rummaged through suitcases and trash bags packed in the
back of the overturned Chevrolet Blazer and found large amounts of drugs
and money, he said.

In all, there were three kilograms of cocaine, 20 pounds of marijuana and
$25,000 in suitcases and trash bags, Mitchell said. Two handguns were also
found in a Cadillac, he said.

Seven bullet casings were visible on the pavement behind the newer model,
metallic brown Blazer. The front windshield was shattered apparently from
being overturned and the tail window was open wide. Three bullet holes were
visible in the roof of the Blazer.

The white Cadillac Seville with a California license tag that Crutchfield
had been in had a bullet hole in the left rear window.

A woman, who would not give her name, said she was sitting in the Cadillac
at the time of the shooting.

"We heard the shooting. The bullet came through the glass and I was
thinking, 'Who would shoot at a gas station?' I hit the floor and started
praying," she said. "I just wish this wouldn't have happened and I just
want to forget about it."

Mitchell, who had arrived at the scene after the shootout, said police
thought the men were members of a gang.

"Preliminary findings show the people we have in custody may be
out-of-state gang members," he said.