WEST PALM POLICE SAY MAN SHOT WHILE TRYING TO BUY DRUGS

WEST PALM BEACH - A construction worker looking to buy drugs was
robbed and shot in a troubled city neighborhood on Thursday morning,
police said.

Rick C. Smith was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm
Beach, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to the right arm,
police spokesman Lt. Chuck Reed said. His injury was not
life-threatening.

Smith told police he and his three friends were looking to buy
marijuana from a man in the 800 block of Ninth Street around 3:30
a.m., Reed said. Smith told police he got out of his car and found
himself staring at black revolver, according to a police report.

The man demanded money, then shot Smith in the arm, Smith told police.
While on the ground, the man shot at Smith two more times, but missed.
He then ran off.

Smith got back in the car and flagged down a Florida Highway Patrol
trooper on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.

Police said Smith, whose age was not released, and his friends are
out-of-state construction workers staying in a hotel in West Palm
Beach. They are set to leave the area on Friday.

The area of the shooting is a known drug-dealing corridor, police
said.

Police described the shooter as a young male about 6-feet tall with a
low-fade hair style.