Fayetteville police: Arrests may be linked to home invasion, shooting

Kevin Pirtle, 41, was home with his grandmother at 5124 Ponderosa Drive when a man broke in, police said. The two struggled and Pirtle was shot in the shoulder and leg. Pirtle ran for help; the suspect ran away.

About half a block away, Darlene Horn walked into her back yard, at 5135 Ponderosa Drive, to find Pirtle asking for help.

"We opened up the back door and went out in the back yard to feed the fish. There was a guy in our back yard screaming that he'd been shot ... and to call 911," she said.

Police searched the neighborhood for the shooter, whom Pirtle told police was a black man with a slender build and dreadlocks. He was described as about 6 feet tall, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

At about 1:30 p.m., police caught three men, including one with dreadlocks.

A resident spotted Tony Burden, 24, Marshall Parks, 20, and Timothy Parks, 19, breaking in to a home at 5416 Palm Circle. They were arrested in that crime.

Teresa Chance, a spokeswoman with the Fayetteville Police Department, noted the proximity of the crimes. She said Marshall Parks could not be ruled out as the man who shot Pirtle.

There was a gun inside the car the trio was traveling in, she said.

Pirtle's wife said the family had been warned that the neighborhood wasn't safe.

"I had a neighbor tell me we should probably move," Samantha Shelton said. "That's not the answer. We should fight back. The community should fight back and not run from this."

Authorities put Sherwood Park Elementary School, at 2115 Hope Mills Road, on lock-down as a precaution during the search. No students were ever in danger, according to Wanda McPhaul, spokeswoman for Cumberland County Schools.