Police are investigating the death of a Detroit man who fell from a ninth-floor window at Charleston's Vista View Apartments as a homicide.
Charleston Police Lt. Steve Cooper said during a press conference that police are searching for other men from Detroit. Police believe those men were inside the apartment early Wednesday morning when the man fell to his death. Police did not identify any of the men.
Neighbors, also in the 1311 building of the apartment complex located on Renaissance Circle, called Metro 911 just after midnight and reported what sounded like a violent struggle, Cooper said.
When police arrived, they forced their way into the apartment and found evidence of a struggle. No one was inside the apartment when police arrived. After inspecting the apartment, police realized a body was below the window in the grass.
Evidence of a struggle could be clearly heard from downstairs apartments, Cooper said.
"There was an actual fight taking place, they could hear physical struggle, several people shouting. It was pretty clear to the witnesses that what they were hearing was a violent struggle," he added.
None of the men police suspect is involved resides at the apartment, but some might stay there when they visit the area, Cooper said. To gain access to the affordable housing units, a person must present identification and their name is documented.
Cooper said police are investigating security footage from the scene.
At about 11 a.m. more than a dozen officers were at a house on Dixie Street. Cooper confirmed it involved the investigation into the death at Vista View. A man was detained and questioned, but eventually released.
Vista View used to be named the Spring Hill Apartments at Roseberry Circle, and Cooper said that in the 1990s, the apartments might have well been dubbed "murder central." New owners have since taken over and things have improved, he said.
"A lot of improvements have been made to security. Things have quieted down and we have much fewer violent crimes up there than we used to," Cooper said. "This is an unfortunate incident. We do have leads in the case and we expect to, at the end of the day, maybe not this day, but at the end of the day, we plan on solving the case."
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.