Man trying to avoid court shot himself in leg, blamed mystery gunman, NC cops say

A North Carolina man’s odd story of being shot while exercising got even stranger when deputies realized he shot himself to avoid going to court, according to detectives.

It happened around 9 a.m. Tuesday in a residential neighborhood near Salisbury, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said in a March 4 news release.

“Deputies ... were notified of a gunshot victim who had arrived at the emergency department at Novant Health Rowan Medical Center,” the sheriff’s office said.

“The victim ... reported that he had been exercising in the woods near the 2900 block of Old Mocksville Road when he was shot in the calf by an unknown person.”

Deputies quickly noticed “inconsistencies” in the 24-year-old man’s story, and their suspicions grew when witnesses contradicted his “version of events,” officials said.

“Investigators also learned that (he) was scheduled to appear in court in Salisbury later that morning for a hearing,” the sheriff’s office reports.

“Investigators further determined (he) shot himself in an attempt to avoid appearing in court that morning, as he feared he would be sentenced to prison.”

The shooting had actually taken place at a home on Pinevale Drive (about two miles west of Old Mocksville Road), and a search of the property found evidence to prove it, officials said.

The man was arrested after being released from the hospital, and charged with filing a false police report and resisting, delaying, or obstructing a public officer, officials said.

Salisbury is about a 40-mile drive northeast from uptown Charlotte.