Schools locked down while police search for suspect

Police used bloodhounds Friday afternoon to look for a man who reportedly fired a gun into a trash container. Cherokee County Sheriff's Deputies continually circled a several square mile area around the Briar Creek subdivision Friday as a tracking team aided by bloodhounds searched from within for a man who reportedly fired gunshots into a trash container.

The incident put two schools, Draytonville Elementary and Ewing Middle School, in precautionary lockdown until deputies found the man about two hours later.

William Coleman Peay Jr., 26, of Shelby, N.C., was booked on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, criminal domestic violence, trespassing and discharging a firearm while intoxicated, according to the booking department at the Cherokee County Detention Center.

The search area basically was all of the land between Wilkinsville Highway and Potter Road, which branches off Wilkinsville Highway before the Briar Creek subdivision and connects again with Wilkinsville Highway south of Draytonville Elementary.

Deputies assisting in the manhunt searched every ditch and creek along the roadsides, as well as unpaved rural roads throughout the community.

Peay was found just after 1 p.m., according to Sheriff Bill Blanton.