The gun possibly used to shoot a security guard Saturday was discovered by a citizen doing yard work near the back alley of 9th and Monroe streets yesterday morning, Roanoke Rapids Police confirmed this morning.

The gun was possibly ditched when the boy charged in the shooting was fleeing from police Monday, Deputy Chief Adam Bondarek said.

The gun will be processed and could be sent to the State Bureau of Investigation lab for further testing, Bondarek said.

Yesterday officers wearing blue Latex gloves inspected the weapon and turned it over to detectives for further investigation.

Bondarek said the police department was appreciative of the citizen tip leading to the recovery of the weapon. “Their help may have a taken a gun off the street that a child could have picked up,” he said.

The boy wanted in the shooting, Andrew Bell, 17, turned himself in Tuesday night after Deputy Fred Whitaker of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office encouraged him to do so. Bell turned himself into the Roanoke Rapids Police Department around 11 p.m.

Bell was jailed on $50,000 bond and his court date is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Bell was wanted in the non-fatal shooting of Michael Proctor, a security guard at the former Rosemary mill, who was working when the boy allegedly approached him on an orange bicycle and demanded his money or wallet around 11:30 Saturday night.

Proctor told Bell he had neither and identified himself as a security guard. Bell allegedly shot him in the arm with a small caliber revolver. The shooting occurred in the 13th Street area of the former mill site.

Police got a break in the case Monday when officers from A Squad and the detective division spotted Bell around noon on an orange bike, a gun noticeable in his waistband.

The officers attempted to stop him and Bell fled, allegedly stealing another bike to make his getaway. While Bell got away, officers were able to identify him and obtain warrants for his arrest on charges of attempted robbery, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, flee to elude arrest and larceny of a bicycle.

Proctor, who was treated and released from the hospital, walked to the intersection of Roanoke Avenue and 13th Street to use a cell phone and call for help.