By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.comDeputies have arrested three men who they say fired a sawed-off shotgun into an occupied Kannapolis house house in an attempted burglary.
Frankie Ray Blackwelder, 18, and Oscar Leonel Sanchez Jr., both of Madison Road in China Grove, were arrested Sunday and charged with attempted first-degree burglary.
Joshua Settlemyer, 25, of 235 Stoltz Road, Rockwell, is charged with attempted first-degree burglary, discharging a weapon into an occupied property, assault with a deadly weapon, possessing stolen goods, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
Blackwelder and Sanchez were being held Tuesday in the Rowan County Detention Center under $25,000 bond each. Settlemyer is being held under $100,000 bond.
The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reported the incident occurred Friday around 3:30 p.m.
According to reports, the three attempted to force entry to the home of Keith Samuel Raines at 1057 Lenwood Lane which is off Moose Road.
A neighbor witnessed the attempted break-in and called the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies Joel Johnson and Darrin Dearth conducted the investigation.
Capt. John Sifford said members of the Raines family were home but were not injured.
Sifford said information from the public helped investigators quickly identify the suspects.
While the investigation was going on, a woman who lives on Sherrills Ford Road notified deputies that she had found a sawed-off shotgun behind her home.
Sifford said the Stevens model shotgun had been reported stolen from a Salisbury residence and was apparently modified after the theft. He noted that a sawed-off shotgun is considered a weapon of mass destruction.
Sifford said investigators are looking at possible connections to other break-ins.