SALISBURY — Police have charged a third man in connection with an evening car chase that turned into a shooting on the interstate, then wound back onto city streets Saturday.

Elijah Dashawn Leach, 22, was charged with possession of marijuana, resisting arrest and assault in the incident. Two other men were previously charged in the incident that began near the intersection of Bank and Clay streets late Saturday afternoon. The victim stepped out of his car for a moment and passengers in another car began shooting at him. He tried to drive away, and the other driver chased him onto the highway, continuing to fire at him, hitting a truck in the process. Police tracked the suspect vehicle back into the city where the driver hit a pole on Main Street at 15th Street and four people inside jumped out and ran. Police have now arrested and charged three of them, but the shooter has not yet been identified and the investigation is ongoing.

Argument between friends ends in shooting, injury

Rowan County Sheriff’s deputies responded last Friday to a report of a shooting at a home on U.S. Hwy. 601 at 6 a.m. According to reports, a woman called deputies and told them two men were in the front yard arguing and that both had guns.

When deputies arrived, they secured one man who initially appeared to be the assailant, and Franklin Fire Department officials were attempting to treat who they assumed was the victim for a gunshot injury to his upper arm. Deputies reported the victim became irate with paramedics at one point, and was telling a woman nearby to shut up when officers were trying to get information from her.

That victim was eventually transported to Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The initial suspect, it turned out, was the homeowner, and he told deputies he shot the victim because the victim had come up behind him in the kitchen and hit him in the back of the head, and when he turned around, had a shotgun pointed at him. The suspect said he had a gun in his own waistband and he pulled it out and shot his assailant in self defense. He did tell deputies that his assailant does come and go at home frequently.

Another woman at the scene, who lives in the home as well, told deputies the assumed victim had been threatening her housemate all week, and that they had been arguing back and forth over property each thought the other had stolen, and acting childish.

The investigation is ongoing.

Road rage ends in shots fired at car of college student

Later Friday morning, deputies responded to a reported road rage that resulted in shots fired at a Pfeiffer College student who was on his way to Asheville.

Deputies said the victim called the sheriff’s office just before 11 a.m., saying he was at the Dollar General on N.C. Hwy. 152 waiting for their arrival. He told them that he was traveling down Old Beatty Ford Road behind a 2004 Honda Accord, and admitted he “may have been too close,” so the driver of the Honda brake checked him.

Reports said after the third incident, the Honda moved to the side and the victim was able to pass. The victim stopped at an intersection to turn left, and the driver of the Honda pulled onto the shoulder beside him and fired three shots from his driver’s side window before speeding off.

No shell casings were found at the scene and no damage was found on the victim’s car. The victim did get a license plate and deputies went to the address on the registration, but the Honda was not there and no one answered the door. The investigation continues.