7-year-old among 3 injured in bullet-riddled, smoking car in Mebane shooting

A Wednesday morning shooting left a 7-year-old boy and two of his family members hospitalized, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said.

The victims were in a car on Industrial Drive when a car that had been following them pulled up in the next lane and shots were fired at them around 8 a.m., the sheriff said. Industrial Drive runs parallel to Interstate 40 and 85. in northwestern Orange County.

The driver of the vehicle that was shot at was able to drive to UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus.

“The vehicle they arrived in had multiple bullet holes and a smoking engine,” according to a sheriff’s office news release.

Authorities do not think the shooting was a random act, and said it was not a road-rage incident.

“This is not an act where someone was just riding down the road and got shot,” Blackwood said at an afternoon news conference. “There was more to it.”

Investigators are looking at surveillance video from businesses in the area, he said.

He did not know how many shots were fired and did not want to give out any description of the vehicles while the department is investigating the shooting.

Authorities don’t think anyone in the car that was fired upon fired back, but Blackwood said he was concerned about possible retaliation.

“We do feel that there was some knowledge of who these parties were,” he explained. “As with any situation like this, it’s very possible that there will be some retaliation by one of the members involved; that’s why our investigation is moving as fast as it is.”

Two of those who were shot were transferred from the Hillsborough hospital to UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill, a Level 1 Trauma Center.

The victims’ injuries are not believed to be life-threatening, the news release stated.

This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 9:31 AM.