Man with No. 38 face tattoo accused in Hickory pistol robbery

HICKORY, N.C. — Officers arrest a man Wednesday at his Hickory home after they said he pulled a gun on another man.

Police said Ever Castaneda carries a 38-special revolver and has a 38 tattoo on his chin.

Police said Castaneda pulled a gun on Chuck Parker near a fast food restaurant Sunday night. Parker said Castaneda was trying to rob him, so he wrestled the 38-special away from him.

"He kept coming at me and kept coming at me so I had to pop him one on the leg," Parker said.

Police said Parker fired several warning shots before shooting Castaneda in the left leg. Channel 9 asked him whether the tattoo had any connection to the 38-special police seized in the case.

"That's how I draw. Everyone who knows me knows that's how I draw. That's my sketch," he said.

Police charged Castaneda with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon and assault by pointing a gun. Parker said he was in fear for his life but aimed at Castenada's leg in hopes of not hurting him too much.

"Now that I've had time to think about it and it has been a couple of days, I kind of feel God put me here to get that guy off the streets and my neighborhood," Parker said.

That was short lived. Three hours after his arrest, Channel 9 saw Castenada return home after making a $500 bond. Earlier, he admitted that the now infamous tattoo's days may be numbered.

"I was going to remove it in a little bit," he said.

Castenada maintains he was the victim in all of this but police said surveillance video and evidence recovered at the scene support Parker's version of what happened.

WSOC