ELLERBE — Two firefighters were reportedly shot at — one of whom was injured — by a prominent Richmond County businessman while responding to a call early Monday morning.
According to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, the Ellerbe Fire Department responded to a fire alarm call at 1023 Green Lake Road, south of the town limits, in the early morning hours of Sept. 1.
According to the sheriff’s office, one fireman arrived in a fire truck, another in a personal vehicle.
The firemen were reportedly “met with gunfire,” and one of them was injured.
(NOTE: The SBI did not release names. That information was obtained from the public arrest warrant.)
The alleged shooter, identified as 54-year-old Timothy Lee Hayden, of the home, reportedly fired an “AR15-style rifle” at the firefighters.
Jerry Lyndon Shepard was shot in the leg, according to the warrant. Another fireman, Jerry Louis Scott Jr., was not injured. According to the SBI, the victim was airlifted to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill.
Hayden was arrested and charged with two counts of assault on emergency personnel with a firearm and one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.
He was booked into the Richmond County Jail at 9:36 a.m. and is, at the time of writing, being held without bond. Hayden is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 11.
According to the SBI, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives is also investigating. Hayden, according to records with the N.C. Secretary of State’s Office, is a managing partner for Paratus Outfitters, a gun store in Rockingham.
According to the sheriff’s Office, “the case remains open and under investigation.”
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
