SALISBURY — An overdose call turned into a homicide investigation Sunday after a man was found dead on a basement couch.

Timothy James Long, a 35-year-old man known as TJ, was found dead early Sunday on a couch in the basement of a home at 375 Ted Lane, which is in the Correll Park area. His death initially was reported an as overdose.

Rowan sheriff’s deputies were called to the scene at 2:54 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived, deputies saw a number of needles around the room, said Maj. John Sifford of the Rowan Sheriff’s Office.

After CPR was unsuccessful, Long was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. Prior to CPR, Long was also given the drug Narcan in an attempt to reverse the overdose.

People at the scene who spoke to Rowan sheriff’s deputies said they last saw Long alive at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. A group that was previously at the Ted Lane house went to a nearby house on Duke Drive to take showers. That group went to check on Long after a man came to the Duke Drive house and said he heard gunshots, Sifford said.

While members of the group that returned to check on Long assumed he overdosed, first responders found a gunshot wound near the base of man’s neck, Sifford said. Long’s father, who was at the home, said he heard gunshots, but he didn’t check what happened.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with information can contact detectives D. Earnhardt at 704-216-8741 or A. Ratledge at 704-216-8770.