Shooting victim released, police still searching for suspect

Published 12:00 am Friday, May 25, 2012

By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — A?man who was shot in the head this morning during an apparent robbery at his home on Carolina Boulevard was released from Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
According to Salisbury Police, 27-year-old Frank Graham Jr. was treated and released about 4:30 p.m.
Robin Smith told a Post reporter she and boyfriend Graham had just returned from the store around 10 a.m. and were bringing groceries into the house when an armed man walked through the open door and demanded money.
“I don’t know who it was,” she said. “He just came in.”
Smith ran to a neighbor’s house and they were about to call 911 when they heard a gunshot. They saw the man run past the neighbor’s home headed east toward Union Heights Boulevard. He was described as a black man, about 6 feet tall and dressed in dark clothing.
Smith said she went back to the house and found her 27-year-old boyfriend shot in the head just above his eyebrow.
“They tried to kill him,” she said. “For what? It’s so senseless.”
Police Capt. Sheila Lingle said the man was pistol-whipping Graham when the gun fired.
Emergency medical responders took Graham to Rowan Regional Medical Center by ambulance. He was then flown by helicopter to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
Police brought in dogs and a helicopter to search the area, which is between Old Concord Road and Jake Alexander Boulevard just east of Interstate 85 and not far from the Innes Street Market shopping center.
But no one was arrested during the search.
Detectives quickly processed the home Friday morning and took fingerprints from the glass front door.
Police are still working on the case and investigators ask anyone with information to contact Salisbury Police at 704-638-5333 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-639-5245.