SALISBURY — A Salisbury man tossing a football with friends not far from Wiley Lash Head Start, near the corner of Cherry Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, was shot twice in each leg Monday afternoon.
Drew Thomas Charleston, 26, of Goodman Lake Road, was shot by someone who pulled alongside him in a black, four-door Nissan Maxima. Salisbury Police say two black males were inside the vehicle, one with dreadlocks and one wearing a hat.
The incident occurred about 1:30 p.m.
Charleston was taken to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center. His injuries are not life threatening, said Police Capt. Shelia Lingle.
Authorities did not indicate a motive for the shooting and are still investigating.
Immediately after the shooting, Charleston ran across the street toward Brookview Apartments in the 700 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. Residents said Charleston knows some people who live there.
No children were outside Head Start at the time of the shooting, contrary to early reports. Neighbors said there were children in the apartment complex where authorities found Charleston.
Authorities left Charleston’s bloody clothes and tennis shoes on the ground in the apartment parking lot. The Salisbury Fire Department poured absorbent material onto the blood after investigators finished there.
Brookview resident Latanya Chambers said the shooting worried her.
“I have three grandkids. I want it to be safe,” she said.
Chambers said she heard the gunshots from her apartment toward the back of the property. She said the shots sounded much closer.
Chambers has lived at the apartment complex since 2006.
A woman who did not want to be identified said she saw Charleston, whom she knows, after the shooting. He passed her in the complex, “hunched over … dragging his leg.”
Charleston has a criminal record with convictions for drug possession, resisting arrest, assault and possession of a weapon on a school campus.