FAIRMONT, W.Va. — A man has been charged with attempted murder after “a drug deal gone bad” in Fairmont, police said.

On Sept. 13 officers with the Fairmont Police Department responded to the area of Locust Avenue near the West Side Market in the city of Fairmont where a suspect who had fled the scene of an attempted murder had been seen, according to a criminal complaint.

When officers made contact with the suspect, identified as Melvin Borden, 49, of Fairmont, he “made an excited utterance” … “that he had just been jumped,” and that he had a pistol on his person, officers said.

The firearm had been concealed under Borden’s shirt in the waistband of his pants and officers later learned that Borden was unable to own a firearm due to previous charges, according to the complaint.

After being read his Miranda rights, Borden told officers that “the situation was ‘a drug deal gone bad’,” and that he “was selling a substance mixed with heroin to the victim” when a fight ensued and the victim fled from the scene with Borden firing “multiple shots at the victim, striking him once,” officers said.

Borden has been charged with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and attempted first-degree murder. He is being held in North Central Regional Jail.