Man accused of shooting at police had a golf club, not a gun, NC cops say
Police in a small town in North Carolina are walking back assault charges they initially lobbed at a 69-year-old man accused of shooting at officers from his apartment during a lengthy standoff Tuesday.
Turns out, there was no gun.
“The investigation did not reveal a firearm and it was determined that the occupant used another instrument to create the noise that was believed to be gunshots by the original complainant and the initial responding officers,” Cramerton police said in a statement.
After Parks Franklin Elmore Jr. walked out of the building and turned himself in, the Gaston Gazette reported police searched his room and found only a golf club.
Officers confirmed the noise people heard was actually the golf club being banged against a door, the newspaper reported.
“The officers were able to recreate the sound and were taken aback by the fact it sounded like it did,” Cramerton Police Chief Brad Adams said, according to the Gaston Gazette.
Police in Cramerton — a town of less than 5,00 residents that sits 15 miles outside Charlotte — responded to reports of shots fired at Mayworth School Apartments around 11:20 Tuesday morning, WBTV reported.
Residents of the senior citizen community along with students attending orientation for an online school in a nearby building were evacuated, according to the media outlet.
The town of Cramerton issued a series of alerts on Facebook, saying the suspect had barricaded himself inside the apartment and urging the public to avoid the area.
The standoff with officers lasted around three hours, WBTV reported.
This was not the first call law enforcement has received regarding the same apartment, according to WSOCTV. Police said they responded to three other “mental health disturbance calls” there.
Elmore was taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation, WSOCTV reported.
This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 4:29 PM.
