Real shots ring out in North Carolina’s replica ‘Wild West’ town of Love Valley
Deputies charged a North Carolina man with going armed to the terror of the public after shots rang out in the “Wild West” town of Love Valley, where horses outnumber cars.
The suspect was arrested after his truck and trailer became stuck in mud, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said.
Love Valley, population 110, features a dirt main street that resembles those in old Wild West Hollywood movies, saloon and all. No cars are allowed on the main street, only humans and their horses.
Investigators said they quickly detained 38-year-old Randy Wayne Dowell of Ronda after witnesses reported three shots being fired Saturday night in the 500 block of Bacon Road in the northern part of the county. No one was hurt.
Dowell also was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill in what the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office described as a domestic incident.
Deputies spotted McDowell walking around Jolly’s Campground after he got stuck in the mud. They found a pistol under a mattress in the trailer, Campbell said in a news release on Tuesday.
A magistrate ordered Dowell jailed on $15,000 bail, according to the sheriff.
Love Valley is in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains north of Statesville.
Andy Barker left his successful contracting business in Charlotte to found the town in 1954 and serve as its longtime mayor. In an interview in the early 2000s, Barker told the Observer that he fulfilled a childhood dream in creating an authentic Western town. He died in 2011 at age 87.