Cops: Medford man fatally shot in Gordon Heights

A Medford man who had just dropped off his mother in Gordon Heights was fatally shot while driving away from the neighborhood late Sunday, police said.

Charles Wilson, 27, was wounded in his left side about 9:40 p.m. as he drove near West Lane. Police said Wilson tried to drive back to the house where he had left his mother, Daisy Evans, also of Medford, but crashed his vehicle into a pickup truck parked in a driveway.

Wilson was pronounced dead at 11 p.m. Sunday at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue, police said.

Evans said Monday she heard five gunshots ring out as her son drove away from the West Lane home.

She turned to see Wilson's car racing back toward her. "When I got to the car, I see him laying down on his side," Evans said.

Family and friends who gathered outside Wilson's home Monday said he attended Longwood High School in Middle Island, but did not graduate, and had three daughters. They recalled his love for breeding pit bulls and racing his Kawasaki motorcycle.

"He was for real about everything," said his cousin Taj Wilson, 39. "He would literally give you the shirt off his back. And if he didn't have it, he'd find a way to take care of it."

Detectives with the Suffolk County Police Department are asking anyone with information on the shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS (8477). All calls will be kept confidential.

With Jennifer Maloney