Elsanor Gun Battle

Pristine pastures...quiet, country roads...golden cornfields and now...cocaine.

Sheriff's investigators say an early morning shooting rural Baldwin County was drug related. Detectives Say Gary Watford drove from Gulf Shores to a mobile home on Bird Hog Road in Elsanor to buy cocaine, or perhaps do something even more sinister.

"He went there to actually rip them off of their drug product," says Capt. Steve Arthur with the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office. "And during that attempted rip-off, he got shot."

Watford and the homeowner got tangled up in a gunfight. Watford was shot at least two times. Inside the trailer, deputies found large amounts of cocaine and evidence of a bloody gun battle. Deputies say the drug problem usually found in larger cities is now a concern in Baldwin County.

"Some of the more violent crimes that we've worked within the last six to eight months in Baldwin County have classic signs that drugs were involved," says Arthur. "It's more common in some of these rural areas because there's not as many law enforcement and they can hide a lot easier."

Deputies are looking for two, possibly three people involved in the shooting. Watford's injuries are not life-threatening.