The boy wanted for shooting a security guard Saturday has turned himself in, Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Jeff Hinton said this morning.

Hinton said Deputy Fred Whitaker of the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office got word to Andrew Bell, 17, he should turn himself in and convinced the Roanoke Rapids boy to do so. Bell turned himself into the Roanoke Rapids Police Department around 11 last night. “We really appreciate Deputy Whitaker helping us,” Hinton said.

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.

The Roanoke Rapids Police Department will get one new officer through a $119,925 grant which requires no matching funds from the city, police Chief Jeff Hinton told council tonight.

The grant is administered through the U.S. Department of Justice COPS Hiring Recovery Program and funds the officer for three years, with a requirement the officer be kept on at the city’s expense for a year after, Hinton told The Spin following the meeting.

Hinton also told The Spin the officer would be a regular patrolman on the force. Council unanimously approved the grant and the accompanying budget amendment. Hinton said the department applied for the grant about four months ago.

The city has three vacant officer positions so one of them will be funded through the grant.

Halifax Linen Service will have until the end of February to comply with job creation requirements it is supposed to meet after receiving One North Carolina grant funds in 2006.

Under the grant the company had three years to create 81 new jobs. Thus far, with the bad economy, it has only created 46 jobs, said Kathy Scott, Halifax County economic development director. “Once things turn around, the company thinks it can meet the commitment,” she told city council at its meeting tonight.

The state approved the extension, Scott said, and after her presentation, council did the same.

The grant funds were part of an expansion plan at the company’s Roanoke Rapids production plant and a plan for the construction of three new distribution centers around the state, a $1.6 million investment.

Since the grant, the company has invested $900,000 in its expansion, Scott told council.

The expansion was made possible in part by an $81,000 One North Carolina Fund grant. The  money represents $1,000 per job, for each of the 81 positions the company's expansion was expected to create.

The Halifax County Board of Commissioners contributed $50,000 in matching funds and the city allocated $30,426 for the project when it was announced in 2006.

Council unanimously approved the extension.

In an unrelated matter tonight, council approved allowing Holland Consulting Planners to apply for a Community Development Block Grant to fund improvements in the Vine Street community.

The consulting company will apply for $850,000 for the project, said its representative, Danny McKewon.

Councilman Carl Ferebee said following the meeting if the grant is approved it would allow people who live in dilapidated housing in the community to relocate and allow the demolition of those homes along with other improvements.

Ferebee said it not known how many people it would affect but said the grant money, if approved, should cover the project.

Vine Street is right off U.S. 158, a road with heavy traffic running through the city and one of the locations the city would like to improve, Ferebee said.