By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
CLEVELAND ó An investigation continues into a Sunday night shooting that resulted in the death of one man and the wounding of another.
And two women who live in the house where the shooting took place were arrested Monday on drug charges.
Officers with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office on Monday identified the dead man as Jamel O. Holland, 21, of 129 Bryson Lane, Cleveland.
He was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting that happened shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday.
Wounded in the leg and wrist was Travis O. Houpe, 31, of 16565 Dooley Road, the house where the shooting took place. Houpe was taken by ambulance to Davis Regional Medical Center in Iredell County, then airlifted to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.
On Monday afternoon, Houpe was listed in good condition at the hospital.
The scene of the shooting is in the far western corner of Rowan County, near its border with Iredell and Davie counties.
The call for help was initially placed as a breaking and entering with shots being fired.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Houpe and Holland knew one another, though they’re not elaborating on the nature of the relationship.
Capt. John Sifford of the Sheriff’s Office said Houpe shot Holland. He said officers haven’t determined if Holland shot Houpe.
Sifford said officers think another person was with Holland, though they’re saying little else.
“They’re exploring all the possibilities,” Sifford said of investigating officers.
A man who answered the door at the brick house Monday morning had little to say. He never opened a storm door and merely motioned to the yard when asked where the shooting place.
“Right out there,” he said.
Asked about Houpe, the man said, “I done told it to the police.”
Pressed for more information, the man said, “Go get it from the police. I don’t really want to talk to you.”
Then he closed the door.
A neighbor who declined to give her name, said the neighborhood is generally quiet, with residents throwing up their hands in friendly waves when they pass.
But she said the house where the shooting took place was an exception.
She said she thought that Houpe usually lived in a rundown trailer behind the brick house. The woman said law enforcement officers had been called to the site in recent months because of fighting.
“With the exception of that place, this is a wonderful area to live,” the woman said.
Sifford acknowledged that officers had been called to the site prior to Sunday’s shooting.
“Officers who work the area were familiar with the location,” Sifford said.
A check of the criminal history of the two shooting victims revealed that Houpe had been convicted of nothing more serious than traffic offenses in Rowan County.
Holland had a few traffic offenses and was charged in 2002 with simple possession of marijuana, a charge that was dismissed by the District Attorney.
On Monday, Linda L. Houpe, 52, and Michelle Marlow Montaigne, 33, both residents of the house where the shooting took place, were charged with numerous drug offenses after officers found drugs and money in the residence.
Officers said Linda Houpe is Travis Houpe’s mother while Montaigne is his girlfriend.
Linda Houpe is charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana and cocaine, trafficking cocaine and maintaining a dwelling for the sale or delivery of a controlled substance. She’s being held under a $250,000 bond and is scheduled to make a first court appearance this morning.
Montaigne is charged with trafficking cocaine and possession with intent to sell and distribute cocaine. She’s being held under a $125,000 bond and is also scheduled to make a first court appearance this morning.
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Officers ask that anyone with information about the case call Sgt. Chad Moose at 704-216-8700.
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Contact Steve Huffman at 704-797-4222 or shuffman@salisburypost.com.