A young New Holland man allegedly shot another young man in the buttocks late Tuesday night outside an apartment building at the Chelsea Village complex near Leola, East Lampeter Township police said.

An ambulance took the victim to Lancaster General Hospital. His gunshot wound does not appear to be life-threatening, investigators said.

A suspect is in custody. He was in a car that New Holland police stopped about an hour after the 11:30 p.m. shooting.

The victim, who is in his late teens, lives at Building 17 on Bradford Drive at Chelsea Village Apartments and Townhouses, just south of Route 23 in Upper Leacock Township.

Names of the victim and suspect had not been released by police as of 7 a.m.

A dispute over drugs apparently led to the shooting, said East Lampeter police Detective Nate Westerman, who was one of several investigators sent to the scene.

The victim was shot by another young adult male just outside Building 17, Westerman said. There were witnesses, and after the shooting the suspect allegedly fled with others in a vehicle.

Investigators learned that the suspect was from New Holland, and they had a description of the vehicle.

At about 12:30 a.m. today, New Holland police spotted the vehicle, which was a black Ford Escort, traveling on Route 23 in the west end of New Holland.

Four young men and women were inside the car. The alleged shooter was a passenger in the back seat.

"We were told to be on the lookout for four people, and we knew who they were," said New Holland police Officer Mark Willwerth. "We are familiar with that bunch."

The alleged shooter lives on Locust Street in New Holland. Police stopped the car before it got there, and alerted East Lampeter Township police.

Police this morning were still questioning the New Holland man and his companions. No charges had been filed.


Staff writer John M. Hoober III can be reached at jhoober@LNPnews.com or 481-6027.