Local

Caldwell County deputy's home struck by gunfire; sheriff steps up patrols

CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. — The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office is stepping up patrols in one of its own deputy's neighborhoods after authorities said someone fired gunshots at his home.

The shooting happened about 3 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Channel 9 crews saw investigators looking for evidence around the house and checking the road for shell casings.

Officials said the deputy was in his backyard in the Dudley Shoals community when the shots rang out, but he wasn’t hurt.

The deputy said he immediately called 911 when the shooting happened.

“Got out of my truck and I heard bang, bang, and I seen this car fly down the road,” he said to a dispatcher during the call. “So I came around here to the front of my house and I got a little splintered mark, looks like which somebody had shot."

“Like it just grazed it at an angle or something?" the dispatcher asked.

“Well no, it hit straight on," the deputy replied.

The deputy described seeing an older model black two-door car quickly leave. He was the only one home when the shooting happened, and Channel 9 was told that his patrol car was parked at the house.

"I think it's crazy. I don't know why people are so mean like that. And they're really nice people," resident Frannie Thompson said.

The Sheriff’s Office said the deputy works as a road patrol officer handling a variety of cases across the county. He said he’s not why someone would target him.

"It's definitely alarming," an investigator told Channel 9. "Of course, alarming to anyone who experiences this, but especially to a deputy who puts their life in risk and in danger, but also their family, too."

Authorities from the Sheriff's Office said they haven't ruled out that the gunfire could have possibly come from a hunter, but they’re not taking any chances and stepping up patrol’s around the deputy’s home.

If someone did intentionally open fire on the deputy, officials said, they want to know why and make an arrest soon before it happens again.

Eyewitness News reporter Dave Faherty will have a full report on the shooting investigation, on Channel 9 at 5:30 p.m.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com: