Gunman Pleads Guilty To Shooting Deputy 3 Times

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C.,None — Sheriff's deputies and detectives filled two back rows of a Cleveland County courtroom Monday.

Deputy Tim Elmore sat with his fellow officers.

The men were silent.

They came to support Elmore as the man accused of shooting him three times last September confessed to the crime.

Otis Lynn Short, 52, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and possession of a firearm by a felon.

Short walked in the courtroom in a yellow jail uniform and gave a small smile to a woman who later said she was his wife.

Around 8:40 p.m. Sept. 12, Elmore responded to a report of a suspicious person at the Waco Stop-N-Shop. A man in a mask later identified as Short opened fire on Elmore. Short was convicted of shooting Elmore in the shoulder and forearm. Another bullet grazed Elmore's neck.

Short could spend about 12 years in prison if given the maximum sentence for both counts. Judge Zoro Guice said Short will serve both terms consecutively.

Short replied "Yes, sir" when Guice asked him if he was guilty.

Guice said the facts of the case were "scary, very scary."

Short's wife tilted her head back and took a deep breath as tears formed.

"Mr. Short, you're lucky everything turned out as it has and you're not here on far worse charges," Guice told him.

District Attorney Rick Shaffer asked Elmore if he had anything to say after Short pleaded guilty.

Elmore said no.

WSOC