Shots fired in anger, but the only charge resulting is for damage to the tire flattened by a bullet. That's the outcome of a recent call worked by sheriffs deputies in the Boomer area. They were called to the 97-00 block of Highway 18 south Saturday night for the shots being fired. They found a 26-year old Wilkes man in his vehicle at Highway 18 and Fall View Road. He was badly shaken up, but unhurt. He first told deputies he had been outside the vehicle, running form another man, when the other man shot at the vehicle. Later, as he calmed down, he changed his story, saying he believed he was already in the pickup when the shots were fired. Where he was makes a difference in the possible charges that can be filed in the case.



The man went on to tell deputies he had visited the shooter's house nearby, to check up on him because he knew the man was using drugs. He went inside the house, and the man was unresponsive, a crack pipe laying on his chest. The man's mother went into the house and got him awake -- then he ran outside, threatening the vicitm and demanding to know what he had done with the man's gun. The victim had no idea where the gun was. The man went back into the house, came out with the gun, and told the man he had five seconds to get off the property before he'd be shot. The man did fire several shots -- one into the ground at the victim's feet, one into a tire, which went flat, and one hit the pickup.



When deputies calmed him down, the man refused to press charges for assault, damage to property, or communicating threats.

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