News & Record
COLFAX, N.C. — An evening filled with periodic gunfire on a rural Colfax road ended late Saturday after a Greensboro police officer shot an armed man who came at him with a rifle, authorities said.
The wounded man, whose name has not been released, was taken to a hospital late Saturday with injuries that were not life-threatening, police Chief Tim Bellamy said.
Authorities had no update on his condition Sunday, and no one had been booked into the Greensboro jail on related charges by late evening.
Bellamy said just before 9 p.m., officers responded to a call of shots fired at 8714 Staples Road, near Interstate 40 at Sandy Ridge Road.
A man had been firing with a rifle inside his residence, prompting someone to call 911.
Officers and deputies worked to set up a perimeter outside the home and bring in special response teams, but the man came out of the house and started shooting, the chief said.
Eventually, “the suspect charged at the officers and ignored their commands (to stop and put the weapon down),” Bellamy said, prompting an officer to open fire.
The chief would not say where the man was struck or if he shot at officers. He said early indications are that alcohol was involved.
The names of the officer and the wounded man will be released today, Bellamy said.
Henry Johnson, whose home sits a few hundred yards from where the suspect lived, said that “muffled” shots could be heard from the one-story ranch home starting about 7:30 p.m., along with yelling.
By 9 p.m., Johnson said the shooting became more frequent with what sounded like shotgun fire coming from the house, followed by six pistol rounds.
As authorities set up their perimeter, they had to evacuate the trailer between the Johnson home and the suspect’s home - where Johnson’s 91-year-old mother-in-law and his granddaughter were.
“They asked us to go to the other end of the house where it was more secure,” Johnson said.
Another neighbor estimated that it was about 10 p.m. before the gunfire stopped and an ambulance sped away.
“Every few minutes I would hear a few gunshots and car door slamming,” said Andy Gray, who lives a few doors down from the suspect.
Authorities were on the scene investigating until about 8 a.m. Sunday, neighbors said.
Neighbors did not know the suspect or his family’s name because they had only been living at the rented house for about three weeks.
Johnson said the man lived with a woman and a young boy.
Bellamy said the suspect’s family members were at the house at some point, but were able to get away.
The case has been handed over to the SBI for investigation, a standard protocol in a shooting involving police.
Messages left for an SBI spokeswoman seeking more information were not returned late Sunday.
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