By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

Police say no charges will be filed in the September shooting death of Nathan Rupert Pant. Investigators and a medical examiner’s report confirm the 37-year-old was shot in self-defense.

Pant was killed after a disturbance at a home at 1011 Rachel Lane, located off Airport Road. The incident was an attempted armed robbery gone wrong during a narcotics sale, Police Capt. Shelia Lingle said in a statement Thursday.

Two others — Tonya Veann Wilks, the owner of the home, and Desmine Marnic Kirkland — were shot during a struggle over the gun.

On Sept. 2 at 6:12 p.m., Salisbury police officers were sent to Rachel Lane in reference to a disturbance and subjects possibly shot. Once officers arrived they found two people at the home who were shot. One of them, Pant, was killed.

Wilks was identified as one of the gunshot victims. She was shot in the leg and taken to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center, where she was treated and then released. A third person who left the scene prior to police arrival was taken to the hospital by private vehicle and identified as Desmond Kirkland from China Grove. He was treated at the hospital for a gunshot wound to the shoulder and released.

During the investigation, Salisbury police detectives found Pant, Wilks and Kirkland were all shot with the same gun.

Police detectives met with District Attorney Brandy Cook, and after a review of the investigative reports and autopsy examination, the evidence shows that Nathan Pant was killed in defense of others and in self-defense.

The District Attorney’s Office will not pursue criminal charges against the shooter.

However, there was sufficient evidence to charge Wilks and another woman, Tiodomira Anna-Marie Caudillo.

Caudillo, 24, of the 400 block of North Craige Street, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver a schedule II substance, attempt to sell a schedule II substance, and conspiracy to sell a schedule II substance. All of the offenses are felonies.

She was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged. Caudillo was issued a $20,000 secured bond and has since been released from the Rowan County Detention Center.

Wilks, 44, was also charged Wednesday with felony conspiracy to sell a schedule II substance. She also has an unrelated charge of misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury and was placed in the county jail under a $4,000 secured bond. Wilks has since been released.