RFP Staff
♦ Sometime around 9 p.m. Sunday Joshua Blackwelder, 27, of 120 Harris Point Road in Rowan County walked out to his driveway with the intention of returning a moped to a friend. Somewhere off in the distance the grass rustled in the wind. Blackwelder noticed a human form standing in the darkness at the end of his driveway. A male carefully raised a pistol and squeezed off several shots. The reports and the brilliant light of their muzzle flashes sent adrenalin surging through Blackwelder. He sprinted low through the darkness toward his front door and safety. The thud of bullets could be heard as they struck his home in rapid succession.
Through the doorway now. Blackwelder came eye-to-eye with his girlfriend and her two children. “Get on the floor,” he said. “Crawl to the back bedroom.”
The firing ended almost as quickly as it began. Blackwelder had no idea what brought the stranger to his house or why he was a target for killing. He later described the shooter to Rowan County Sheriff’s Office deputies as male of medium to heavy build weighing about 185 lbs. In the darkness it was difficult to discern the shooter’s complexion. He drove a maroon vehicle and kept his headlights off as he drove away from the scene.
A neighbor of Blackwelder’s witnessed a male standing by a maroon vehicle by Harris Point Road. When the shooting ended, he saw the man hunker down and return to his vehicle before it disappeared in the darkness down the road.
Rowan County Sheriff’s investigators have a mystery to solve. They found 7 .40 caliber shell casings on the ground by the road and 7 bullet holes in the house’s exterior wall and a wooden fence near the house. 2 slugs were lodged in backpacks hanging behind the front door and a third was found in a book.
Did a hitman pay a visit? A deranged individual with a gun randomly choosing 120 Harris Point Road? Someone harboring a grudge?
A bloated moon tonight and Rowan County has a mystery.
