Bellwater police arrested a 27-year-old man Tuesday in connection with the shooting that critically wounded a Lowertown resident on Cooper Street, a break detectives credited to an anonymous tip and doorbell-camera footage volunteered by neighbors.

Bellwater police on Tuesday arrested Travis Ekland, 27, of Bellwater, in connection with the shooting that critically wounded a 32-year-old man on the 400 block of Cooper Street in Lowertown. Ekland was taken into custody without incident at a relative’s home in Cedar Hollow, the department said, and is charged with first-degree assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm and possession of a weapon by a prohibited person.

Lt. Omar Grady, a department spokesman, said the case broke after an anonymous caller to the tip line identified a vehicle seen leaving Cooper Street, and neighbors along Ainsworth Avenue volunteered doorbell-camera footage that captured the same car minutes before the shooting. Detectives matched the vehicle to Ekland and recovered a handgun during a search executed Tuesday, Grady said. Ballistics testing on the weapon is pending.

The victim, whose name police have still not released at his family’s request, has been upgraded from critical to stable condition at Bellwater General Health System and is expected to survive, Grady said. He remained hospitalized Tuesday.

A dispute that ‘did not have to end this way’

Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from an argument outside a corner store on Cooper Street several hours earlier, Grady said, involving people who knew one another. “This was not random, and it did not have to end this way,” he said. “An argument over next to nothing put one man in the ICU and will likely put another in prison.”

District Attorney Vivian Ashcroft’s office filed the charges Tuesday afternoon. The assault count alone carries a sentence of up to 20 years under state law, and the prohibited-person weapons charge carries a mandatory minimum because of a prior felony conviction on Ekland’s record, according to the complaint. Ekland is being held at the Wentworth County Jail ahead of an arraignment expected later this week, where prosecutors said they will ask that he be held without bail.

A public defender had not yet been assigned to represent Ekland as of Tuesday evening, and no one at the Cedar Hollow address where he was arrested responded to a reporter’s knock. Court records show his prior conviction, for burglary, was resolved by guilty plea several years ago.

Relief, and a point to prove, in Lowertown

On Cooper Street, word of the arrest moved fast. Yolanda Pierce, the longtime resident who called 911 the night of the shooting, said a detective knocked on her door Tuesday to tell her personally before the news broke. “That’s a small thing, but it matters,” she said. “They came back and finished it. That’s what this block needed to see.”

People took a risk when they handed over that footage and made those calls. The police did their part; the neighbors did theirs. That’s the only way any of this works.

Rev. Josiah Trammell, pastor, Mount Calvary Baptist Church

Trammell, whose church organized a vigil on the block after the shooting, said clergy will follow the case through the courts and stay in contact with both families involved. “An arrest is not a healing,” he said. “It’s the beginning of a long process for two households, and this community intends to walk with both of them.”

Council Member Terrence Boudreaux credited residents rather than officials. “The neighborhood solved this crime,” he said. “The tip came from Lowertown. The video came from Lowertown. My job now is to make sure the follow-through — the lighting, the consistent patrols, the investment — comes from City Hall.” He said the pedestrian-lighting request for Cooper Street has been added to the agenda of the council’s next capital-projects committee meeting.

Chief Roberta Simms, in a brief statement, called the arrest “a direct result of community cooperation” and noted the case is the department’s fourth shooting arrest this year. Detectives ask anyone with additional information about the Cooper Street case to contact the violent crimes unit, as the investigation remains open ahead of trial.

The case now moves into a court system working through a substantial backlog, and prosecutors acknowledged the trial date, if the case reaches one, could be many months out. Ashcroft’s office said it has assigned a victim advocate to keep the wounded man’s family informed at each stage, from arraignment through any plea negotiations. The victim’s relatives declined to comment through the hospital, asking for privacy while he recovers.

Grady said the department’s violent crimes unit closed the case file on the street work Tuesday but will continue supporting prosecutors through trial preparation, including formal witness statements from the neighbors whose footage broke the case open. Detectives are also reviewing whether the recovered handgun connects to any other open investigations, a routine step whenever a firearm is seized, he said.

The shooting was the fourth in Lowertown this year. Residents who spent last week debating whether to speak up now have an answer they can point to, Pierce said. “Next time somebody says calling in doesn’t change anything,” she said, “I’ve got a story to tell them.”