Police Shoot Armed Man During Home Break-In

Gaston County police shot an armed man after his estranged wife said he was trying to break into her home Sunday morning.

The woman called 911 at about 3 a.m. Sunday and said her husband had a gun and was trying to break into the house on Horseshoe Lake Road, near Mount Holly, police said.

When officers approached the house, they said they heard a gunshot and saw 48-year-old Corey Scott Hart trying to climb into the home through a window.

Hart then reached for a nearby gun, police said, and a responding officer shot him in the hip.

Hart was treated at Carolinas Medical Center and released into police custody.

News of the incident surprised some neighbors.

"They're one of the ones that keep to themselves,” Mary Rose Coleman said. “It's kind of quiet over here.”

“You really don't know what goes on inside people's homes," Joey Davis said.

Officer J.P. Brienza, who shot Hart, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the incident by the State Bureau of Investigation, which is standard procedure.

Hart is charged with three counts assault on law enforcement with a firearm, domestic assault and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a residence. He is currently being held in the Gaston County Jail without bond.