A drive-by shooting at the corner of Elmwood Drive and West Cornwallis Drive has spread alarm in a part of Greensboro that, until now, has largely been spared this type of crime.

The Greensboro Police Department is giving out very little information about the incident in the Irving Park neighborhood at this time, but the story of what happened has been spreading like wildfire among residents ever since around 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13, when the shooting took place.

Greensboro Police Department Public Information Officer Ron Glenn said that, at this point in time, the department is only releasing limited information – namely, that there was a shooting on Saturday evening near the intersection, that “multiple shots” were fired and that the victim was transported to the hospital with “non-life-threatening” injuries.

Glenn said the name of the victim wasn’t being released out of concern for the person’s safety.

He said that, in the case of aggravated assaults in which victims survive, the department typically does not give out the victims’ names.

Glenn also stated that there is currently no information to be released regarding suspects or suspected motives.

The story that is being recounted among residents in the neighborhood, which seems by all accounts to be accurate, is much more detailed; however, again, the Police Department will not confirm or deny the story.

According to that account, a man, his wife and their infant son, who live in the area of the shooting, were in the car turning from West Cornwallis onto Elmwood Drive when gunfire from another car rang out with extremely loud booms and brilliant flashes of light from what appeared to be a high-powered semiautomatic weapon.

According to the account making the rounds among neighbors, the car, which had been shot seven times, pulled up to a house of a friend of the family, and the three ran in and remained there until police and paramedics arrived.  The man in the car had been hit in the arm.

Though police aren’t publicly stating a motive or a suspected motive, some aware of the shooting say that, to them, it has all the appearances of a random or gang-initiation shooting.

Whatever the motive, the residents who in the past haven’t had to worry about this type of crime, are now “horrified.”

On nice evenings, many people could be seen strolling, jogging or walking their dogs by the intersection.  Now, they may think twice before doing so.

Area residents are taking this as a further sign that brazen shootings in Greensboro are becoming more ubiquitous. This follows a dramatic November 2020 shootout in broad daylight right next to the Guilford County Courthouse in downtown Greensboro and next to the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department.

One resident who lives near the intersection of Elmwood and West Cornwallis told the Rhino Times, “I never used to turn on my alarm during the day, but now I do.”

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