ROCKINGHAM — Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office are seeking suspects in two violent crimes on opposite ends of the county.
According to an incident report, a grandmother in Ellerbe told deputies that she and her grandchildren were watching television in her living room around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28 when they heard two gunshots.
The grandmother reportedly took the kids to her bedroom and got on the floor. After a few minutes, she told deputies she got up to look out the front door, but did not see anything.
Two days later, a relative who was visiting noticed a hole in the wall by the bathroom door, according to the report. The grandmother then noticed there was another hole.
She told deputies she thinks the suspect, or suspects, were after her nephew.
The reporting deputy checked around the home but “was unable to locate any shell casings.”
Once identified, the suspect or suspects will face charges of shooting into an occupied dwelling and injury to property.
Early Saturday morning, two 27-year-old men told deputies that they were jumped after going to a club on Cherokee Street, off of Midway Road.
According to the report, both men say they were circled by several black male suspects who told them they were “going to pay” for going to the club. The suspects allegedly hit and kicked the victims “about the head and body.”
The suspects reportedly took a telephone, $240 in cash, two wallets, one of the men’s ID and a credit/debit card.
The two alleged victims were not together when their reports were made and it is not known if they were at the club together, however, their reports were made around the same time.
The suspects, once identified, will face charges of robbery and simple assault.
In 2015, deputies and N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement raided a suspected “shot house” on Cherokee Street, but Chief Deputy Mark Gulledge said he was unsure if the club the men had gone to was the same locale.
Anyone with information on either of these crimes is encouraged to call the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
Anyone with information concerning any of these crimes is encouraged to call the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at 910-895-3232 or Richmond County Crime Stoppers at 910-997-5454.
Reach William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_Toler.