MOULTRIE, Ga. — Moultrie Police are investigating the shooting of a Byron, Ga., man who told officers he and others in his truck were targeted for robbery by a quartet of males who had helped him push his vehicle off the roadway.

Joshua Sanders, 28, was shot in the leg after his Chevrolet S-10 ran out of gas between midnight and 12:30 a.m. Monday in the vicinity of Second Street Northwest. Sanders said that Ashley Harlow, also of Byron, and Tammy Lynn Carter and her son-in-law Juan Perez, both of Moultrie, were in his truck with him at the time.

Carter told police that Sanders was driving Perez to Circle Road from Sylvester Drive when Sanders took a wrong turn. After they ran out of gas four males approached to help them but left.

A short time later four males, who appeared to be the same people they encountered earlier, attempted to rob them, Carter reported. During the incident they broke her cell phone and threw it across the street but did not take anything from anyone in the group.

The four, two of whom were wearing hoodies — one black and one gray — seemed to be “more focus(ed) on Mr. Sanders,” she told police, and did not look in her purse.

Perez recounted to police that one of the would-be robbers had on an orange outfit as did one of those who had helped them earlier. In the later incident, that suspect had on a mask and the others were wearing dark clothing and masks.

Perez told police that four people he believes to be the same who helped push the truck approached them brandishing silver-colored pistols.

After the assailants ordered them to lie on the ground and pointed guns to their heads, Perez told police, Sanders said they had no money,  at which time one of them shot him.

Sanders received a gunshot wound to the upper thigh, police said, and Colquitt County Emergency Medical Service personnel who examined him at the scene determined that the bullet exited through his inner thigh.

Paramedics took him to Colquitt Regional Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman said on Wednesday that Sanders was treated and released.

Police found the S-10 parked in 300 block of third Avenue Northwest. They transported Harlow, Carter and Perez to the police station where Harlow refused to give a statement and left.

After police spoke with Carter and Perez, an officer drove them to their destination on Circle Road.