Crime-scene investigators took evidence Tuesday from a bloody patch of snow outside a downtown homeless shelter where a man was found injured late Monday night.

Alan Cannon — a 57-year-old resident of the Lawrence Open Shelter, 944 Ky. — was airlifted late Monday from Lawrence Memorial Hospital to a Kansas City-area hospital. A condition report wasn’t available Tuesday night.

A police spokesman said Tuesday he hadn’t yet confirmed that Cannon was the victim of a crime. But Yvonne Cook, a friend of Cannon’s who drove him to the hospital, said she had no doubt foul play was involved.

“I think that somebody busted him in his head thinking he had some money, for real,” said Cook, 36. “He got the hell beat out of him, for sure.”

Cook said that about 11:30 p.m. Monday, she spotted Cannon on the ground near the Community Drop-In Center, 214 W. 10th St., which is in the same building as the shelter even though they’re separate entities and have different addresses.

Some residents call the Lawrence Open Shelter the “wet shelter” because, unlike the Salvation Army Shelter, 946 N.H., it allows intoxicated residents. It opened for the winter last week.

Reigniting controversy

The shelter has been controversial among some neighbors, including Phil Hemphill, who lives across the street. He said the apparent attack made him more concerned that the shelter was bringing crime into the neighborhood.

“It proves my point. I think we’re just going to have more and more of it,” he said.

Lawrence detective Dan Ward prepares a cast of a footprint in the snow near other marks of evidence at the scene of an investigation. Alan Cannon, a 57-year-old homeless man, was found injured about 11:30 p.m. Monday outside the Community Drop-In Center, 214 W. 10th St., which shares space with the Lawrence Open Shelter. Lawrence Police were trying to find out Tuesday if the man was a victim of foul play.

But Tami Clark, director of the Community Drop-In Center, said she viewed the apparent crime as an isolated incident.

Tom Wright, president of the board for Lawrence Open Shelter Inc., said he expected people to blame the shelter but pointed out that similar incidents have happened around the city.

Wright said that when he left the shelter about 11:15 p.m. Monday, Cannon wasn’t there and everyone inside was either sleeping or quiet. The shelter usually doesn’t let anyone in after 10 p.m., he said.

Cannon wasn’t drunk Monday night, Cook said.

Another witness, Ivan Prentup, said he spotted Cannon on the ground about 11 p.m. as he walked past 10th and Vermont streets.

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Prentup said Cannon told him to go away but threw him a bloodied, white fleece hat, which Prentup said he planned to turn over to police Tuesday. Prentup said he also saw a man on a nearby corner who was yelling, “I didn’t do it. I didn’t murder him.”

Injured ‘a gentleman’

Acquaintances of Cannon’s described him as a well-dressed man who has worked as a cook at places including Burger King and Kansas University’s Oliver Hall.

“He’s usually pretty quiet, easygoing. As far as I’m concerned, he’s a gentleman,” Wright said. “I’ve never seen him be confrontational with anybody.”

The shelter is operating under terms of a permit granted earlier this year by the Lawrence City Commission that’s subject to review after a year. It contains several provisions to keep the homeless out of contact with the nearby Oread neighborhood — including bans on loitering and smoking on the west side of the building — but there are no specific provisions regarding crime.

The city can review the shelter’s operations at any time, but city officials said Tuesday they had not received a request to review the permit. Mayor David Dunfield said Tuesday it was too early to know whether a review was warranted.

— 6News anchor/reporter Janet Reid contributed information to this article.