A 34-year-old Greenville man is behind bars after police say he drove around the city firing a gun into the air, setting off a string of ShotSpotter alerts at four separate locations in the span of a single night. Juan Garza Jr. was arrested and charged with discharging a firearm within city limits, and no injuries or property damage were reported in connection with the shooting.
According to WITN, officers responded around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday to several ShotSpotter alerts triggered near 105 North Sylvan Drive, 904 West Arlington Boulevard, 2307 South Memorial Drive and 2301 May Street. Police say their investigation found that Garza was driving and shooting into the air, moving between locations as the gunfire detection system picked up each blast. Garza is now being held at the Pitt County Detention Center.
No Injuries Reported Despite Shots Fired at Multiple Sites
Despite the gunfire being detected across four different parts of the city, police say there have been no injuries or property damage reported. The department has not released additional detail on how Garza was identified or how many shots were fired, and those specifics remain outside what police have made public so far.
Greenville's ShotSpotter network has produced far more serious outcomes in other recent incidents. In one case detailed by WNCT, officers responding to a ShotSpotter alert near Truman and May Street around 8 p.m. on a Sunday found a man suffering from a gunshot wound; he was alive and alert as he was transported to the hospital, and that investigation was still ongoing as of the station's report. That incident is unrelated to Wednesday night's arrest, but it underscores how the same detection technology has flagged gunfire with very different consequences in Greenville before.
Charge Rests on City's Firearm Discharge Ordinance
Garza's charge of discharging a firearm within city limits stems from authority North Carolina law grants to municipalities. Under a state statute from the North Carolina General Assembly, cities may regulate the discharge of firearms at any time or place within city limits, with exceptions for self-defense or when acting on direct orders from law enforcement. The exact Greenville ordinance section used in Garza's case has not been detailed publicly.
ShotSpotter technology, which has been in use since 1996, is now deployed in more than 180 communities nationwide, according to the company behind it, as reported by The Assembly in a November 2025 piece examining the system's use in North Carolina. Greenville has leaned on the network repeatedly this year to pinpoint gunfire reports, including Wednesday night's series of alerts that led investigators to Garza.
Pattern of Gunfire Incidents Across the City
Wednesday's arrest adds to a run of gunfire-related incidents Greenville police have investigated recently. WCTI 12 has reported that police were investigating a separate overnight shooting downtown that sent three men to the hospital, a case distinct from both Wednesday's arrest and the ShotSpotter-linked shooting WNCT covered. Firing a gun into the air without apparent target has also drawn police attention elsewhere in the region; Live 5 News reported that a North Charleston man was arrested after allegedly firing a shot into the air following an argument with his girlfriend and mother. Garza's case remains distinct from each of those incidents, but together they reflect how often random or celebratory gunfire ends up in the hands of police departments relying on detection technology to locate it before someone gets hurt.
