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Bullet from drive-by shooting hits man in Norton home

E-mail|Link|Comments () September 21, 2009 05:16 PM

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent

A 31-year-old man watching television in his Norton home was shot in the leg last night in an apparent drive-by shooting, police said.

Howard Trent said he was lying on his couch when a bullet came through the wall and hit his thigh shortly after 9 p.m.

“At first I thought the remote control battery blew up. Because when it happened all I saw was like a flash, a puff of smoke. I wasn’t sure what was going on,” Trent said. “I felt a quick sharp sting and I looked over and there was a hole in the wall. I kept thinking, ‘It can’t be, it can’t be.’ Then I looked at my leg.”

Trent’s parents, who are in their late 50s, were sitting nearby on recliners.

After the gunshot, the family found several bullet fragments on the floor and examined the welt on Trent’s leg. But it wasn’t until police arrived that they discovered the open wound where the bullet entered.

“A State Police officer noticed blood on my boxers … I rolled them up and there was a hole a half an inch wide where you could see into my leg,” Trent said. “The welt was where the bullet stopped on the other side.”

Trent said he was lucky because the bullet entered his thigh about 10 inches below his hip and missed hitting the bone.

“If I had leaned forward I probably would’ve gotten it in the chest or the head,” he said.

Doctors at Rhode Island Hospital treated the wound but left the bullet in Trent’s leg.

“They said to keep it in there for a couple days and let the tissue heal around it,” he said. “Actually, I have two pieces of bullet in my leg right now.”

On Sept. 8, Norton police arrested and charged Trent with posession of a Class B drug, Suboxone, a prescription medication for recovering heroine addicts, and driving with a suspended license. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 6.

Trent said two neighbors on their front porch last night saw a dark sports utility vehicle slow in front of his house, fire a gun shot, and then speed off.

Investigators also believe it was a drive-by shooting from an SUV, but are seeking leads from the public, said Norton Police Lieutenant Tom Petersen.

“We have very limited information,” said Peterson, noting that it was the first shooting in Norton in almost two years.

“Nothing like this ever happens around here,” said Shawn Clinkscales, 29, Trent’s neighbor on Evergreen Road. “It’s a good neighborhood, a good town.”

The shooting occurred across Norton Reservoir from the Tournament Players Club of Boston, an award-winning golf course that hosts the annual Deutsche Bank Championship, a prominent PGA Tour event.

Trent said he is baffled by the shooting.

“It’s been bothering me all day. It makes absolutely no sense. I have no enemies; all my friends are good people. I can’t put two and two together,” he said. “It’s a nice family-oriented neighborhood. You’d never expect something like this around here, not in a million years.”