ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies in Rowan County were finishing up at a search scene Tuesday north of Rockwell when a man drove by and fired gunshots toward them, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office says.
The sheriff’s office says deputies had finished an “extensive search” and arrested a 17-year-old suspected of multiple burglaries at homes near Highway 52. Investigators from multiple police agencies used helicopters and drones to find the teen and arrest him. That suspect wasn’t identified.
[ MORE NEWS: Deputies arrest man after deadly shooting in Rowan County ]
Right after the burglary suspect was arrested, another man in a car started firing a 9mm pistol toward the deputies near the intersection of Upper Palmer and Gold Knob roads. RCSO says about five to six shots were fired. Nobody was reported to be hit.
Two firefighters saw the shots fired and gave information to police to help them track down the car. Officers followed the car down Gold Knob Road, and a deputy found it going down Sides Road toward Hwy 52. The deputy pulled the car over and arrested the driver, identified as 22-year-old Michael Anthony Brown.
According to RCSO, Brown was wearing “an empty leather pistol holster” when he was taken into custody. Officers also found two guns in the passenger seat and “numerous empty and live rounds strewn throughout the vehicle.”
The sheriff’s office says Brown told police that “he was simply shooting into the ground and not at officers on the scene.”
Brown is facing four counts of felony assault on law enforcement with a firearm, and he was booked on a $250,000 bond.
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