By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — A Rowan County man on trial for the first-degree murder admitted to a detective he shot his stepfather, according to testimony today in Rowan County Superior Court.
Rowan County Sheriff’s Deputy W.T. Basinger testified in court this morning that when he arrived on the scene at 165 Leisure Lane on Sept. 17, 2009, Robert Douglas Earnhardt told him there wasn’t any other suspect and that he was the one who shot Billy Tommy Elmore.
Jurors also heard from neighbors who said they heard two gunshots that day.
Earnhardt is also on trial for assault with deadly weapon inflicting serious injury for allegedly shooting a second victim, Tiffany Marie Barbee. She was wounded in the left arm and hand.
Barbee is the girlfriend of Billy Elmore’s son and drove Elmore to the house that day.
Earnhardt is the son of Patty Kesler Earnhardt Elmore, the estranged wife of Billy Elmore.
Basinger, the sheriff’s deputy, said he was initially dispatched to a disturbance call and while he was en route the 911 dispatchers notified him gunshots had been fired.
One neighbor, Mary Ann Lane, said after the shots were fired she and others heard loud screaming and what sounded like women wailing.
Lane lives on Sapona Drive, which is behind the Leisure Lane home where the shooting occurred.
See more in Thursday’s Post.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.