NC Official Shoots Son In Leg After Wife Said Someone Had ‘Too Much To Drink’

Authorities said Phil Cowherd, a town councilman from Harrisburg, N.C., shot his son in the leg.
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Authorities said a member of the Harrisburg, N.C. Town Council shot his son in the leg Sunday night, after his wife said either he or his son had “too much to drink” at a Carolina Panthers football game.

Local TV station WCNC reported that police were called to the home of Phil Cowherd III after his son was shot and taken to a nearby hospital.

Details of the shooting are murky. Five people were inside the home at the time of the incident, according to WCNC, although it’s not clear if any of them witnessed it. Cowherd’s wife Shelia also laid out a confused picture of the scene for the 911 operator when she called in the incident.

“My husband is very sorry– this has never happened before, my son was beating down the door,” she said, as quoted by WCNC. “We had just came from a Panthers game; too much to drink, I don’t know why my son was banging and knocking my door apart, I don’t understand why, but my husband must have been afraid– he went and got the gun.”

It’s unclear whether Sheila Cowherd meant that her son or her husband had too much to drink.

Cowherd has served on the Town Council for more than a decade. Authorities were still investigating the shooting and had not yet filed any charges.

This post has been updated to reflect that it’s unclear whether Cowherd or his son had “too much to drink.”

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