Another shooting in the city

A 26-year-old Charlottesville man was shot in the leg early Sunday morning, according to police. It was the third shooting in two weeks in the city.

The victim, who was taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center, doesn’t appear to have a life-threatening injury, Charlottesville police Sgt. Randy Higgins said. The shots were reported about 3 a.m. in the 400 block of Ninth Street Northwest.

Police would not release the victim’s identity.

Herman M. Green Jr. was charged in the shooting after turning himself in at 11 a.m. Sunday, Higgins said. Green has been charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, according to police.

The victim said the gunman, who he knew as “Buddy Lee,” got out of a white Ford Crown Victoria, yelled, “I told you” and started shooting at him, according to police.

The victim, who was in a vehicle when the gunman approached, fled the vehicle and ran through neighbors’ yards, but the gunman kept shooting and hit him in the leg, according to Charlottesville spokesman Ric Barrick. A friend took him to the emergency room.

Higgins said he doesn’t know how many shots were fired.

Sunday’s shooting occurred about a mile from two July 19 shootings. Joshua Anthony Magruder, 19, was killed that day. The other victim, an 18-year-old, survived a shot to the chest.

Police say they have no evidence that the July 19 shootings were related to each other but are investigating the possibility. Higgins also said he has no information that Sunday’s shooting was related to the July 19 shootings or is gang related.

Magruder was Charlottesville’s third homicide victim this year.

In June, 11-year-old Aziz Damar Booth was shot to death in his home at 330 Sixth 1/2 St. S.W., also about a mile from Sunday’s shooting.

On April 8, Palmyra resident Shawn Anthony Luck, 29, was shot to death inside a minivan speeding down Fairway Avenue. Two women and one man have been charged in connection with that incident.

Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo said that from June 1, 2007, to May 31 there were 242 calls for shots fired in the city, an increase from 198 the year before.