NC deputy caught in ‘gun battle’ just after suspects shot 10-year-old girl, police say
Law enforcement leaders say four people — now suspected of being involved in the shooting of a 10-year-old girl — started a “gun battle” with a deputy who was responding the sounds of gunfire in a North Carolina neighborhood Tuesday night.
The girl was shot just before 9 p.m. in the 1500 block of North Jackson Street, Salisbury Police said. She was in stable condition as of Wednesday afternoon at the hospital, Salisbury Police Chief P.J. Smith said at a news conference.
The girl’s grandfather identified her as Zy’amir “Zy” Henderson, a rising fifth grader at Overton Elementary School, WBTV reported.
Rowan County Sheriff’s Lt. David Scott was in the area of the initial shooting even before the 911 call was made and began jogging down the residential street to see where the shots came from, according to Rowan Chief Deputy Jason Owens.
The driver sped toward Scott and he believed the car was trying to hit him, according to a sheriff’s office news release. At least two people inside the car began shooting at Scott and he moved from the road to avoid being hit or shot, Owens said.
Scott, according to the chief deputy, fired back at the suspect’s car. No one in the car was injured, Owens said.
The car traveled a short distance and crashed, investigators said Wednesday. Scott was not hurt but Owens said he was in “great danger” during what he described as a “gun battle.”
Four passengers left the vehicle and “continued to fire shots in the direction of Lt. Scott,” according to the sheriff’s news release.
“He’s very very fortunate those guys were a bad shot,” Owens said.
The sheriff’s office and the police department are jointly investigating the exchange of gunfire, while Salisbury Police are investigating the shooting that left the 10-year-old injured.
No arrests have been made. Smith said police have contacted three people who were in the car at the time.
It’s unclear what led to the first shooting but Smith said the young girl was not the intended target of the suspect who fired. She was shot and injured while in the driveway of a home. The shot came from a car, Smith said.
“We have an innocent 10-year-old female victim who got injured ... who should have started her first day of school today but was unable to due to the senseless, violent act of somebody over something that was unrelated,” Smith said.
Around 20 shell casings were collected from the scene, including from rounds fired between the deputy and the car.
Owens said the sheriff’s office contacted the State Bureau of Investigations because a deputy fired his gun at suspects. But because the deputy’s shots did not injure anyone, he said, the SBI will not investigate the shooting.
