Gunshots Shatter Peaceful Saturday Morning in Small North Carolina College Town

BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA — The normally quiet and laidback mountain town of Boone was rocked Saturday morning around 10 a.m. when a man drove down King Street firing a gun. Home to Appalachian State University, King Street is the main thoroughfare in the downtown area and is usually filled with pedestrians visiting the many shops and restaurants in that stretch.

The bullets struck two vehicles, apparently grazing a passenger in one. The person was transported to Watauga Medical Center for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. There are no other known injuries resulting from the incident.

Numerous 911 calls were received, reporting a white Toyota pickup truck traveling west on King Street, driven by a white male and “randomly firing from the vehicle”. Officers quickly located and stopped the vehicle near Fire Station No. 1.  The driver surrendered to officers peacefully and was taken into custody.

Joseph James Naverette, 24, of Mount Airy, was charged with two counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle and one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. He was being held under a $1,000,000 secured bond and has an August 13 court date.

Authorities did not comment on a possible motive or whether the victims were targeted. According to a BPD spokesperson, “We don’t know any motive behind why he did what he did. At this time, we’re not aware of any connection between the potential victims … We still have a lot of unanswered questions.”