A Wilkes man was rushed to the hospital following a shooting incident last night, and is now in Baptist Medical Center following surgery to repair his wounds. Deputies say they found James Burchette sitting on his sofa about midnight last night, with a gunshot wound to the leg and a large pool of blood forming underneath him. He was conscious, and able to tell them his version of what happened -- pointing to 42-year old Jerry Icenhour when asked who shot him. That statement launched Icenhour into the first of what would turn out to be nearly half a dozen different stories about how Burchette had either shot himself, or his girlfriend had shot him and left, or ... well, just about anything but admitting he had pulled the trigger.
He became belligerent, at one time trying to kick out the side window of a squad car, and fought with deputies as they tried to subdue and handcuff him. A two-second stun earned deputies a couple of minutes reprieve, but Icenhour started resisting again, earning another stun when other measures didn't get him to cooperate. He is now jailed on a 25-thousand dollar bond, charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.