Police: Man shot in Glendale found with unused bullets in pocket

After a bullet pierced through a man’s right armpit, burrowing through his back Saturday morning in South Glendale, the 36-year-old flagged down a passing driver to take him to the hospital, police said.

A Glendale police officer spotted the car speeding into Glendale Memorial Hospital while calls of gunshots from less than a mile away came into the police department around 2 a.m., said Glendale Police Sgt. Mark Hess.

The man, who police would not identify, has non-life threatening injuries. The suspect is unknown.

The wounded man told his wife before leaving their home on West Maple Street that he was going out to get cigarettes, but he never came back, Hess said.

When the police officer who spotted the speeding car entered the emergency room, he saw the man with the gunshot wound. The victim, who seemed uncooperative, wouldn’t give much information, but vaguely described where the shooting occurred, Hess said. Unused bullets were found in his pockets.

Several officers canvassed the 300 block of Riverdale Drive looking for blood and other evidence. They found about six bullet shell casings and a gun registered to the victim, Hess said.

People reported hearing gunshots to the police, but no witnesses have come forward.

“It sounds like it’s kind of a big mess,” Hess said. “We can’t even figure out who he was in a firefight with or what happened.”

-- Brittany Levine, Times Community News

Follow Brittany on Google+ or Twitter @brittanylevine