ROCKY MOUNT - A 20-year-old man is wanted for allegedly shooting a police officer during a traffic stop early Sunday morning.

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Rocky Mount authorities are searching for Alexander Damion Whitaker, who is charged with attempted murder in the attack on Senior Police Officer Darrell Martin.

The officer remained in stable condition at Nash General Hospital on Sunday evening, as police continued their search for Whitaker, according to published reports in the Rocky Mount Telegram.

"We're asking for the community's support and assistance on this," said Rocky Mount police Capt. Martin McCoy.

Whitaker, 20, is described as a black man standing 5-foot-2 and weighing 130 pounds. His mother Angela Daniels, urged her son to turn himself in before anyone else was hurt.

Daniels, who lives in the Mildred community, said she had not spoken to her son since the shooting, nor does she have any idea where he might be. She received her information from watching the story unfold on TV and talking to the Rocky Mount Police Department, she said.

A relative notified Daniels of the shooting just before 6 a.m. Sunday, and she was shocked to hear her son was involved in a gun-related incident, she said.

According to the Telegram and police reports, around 3:15 a.m., Martin pulled over a vehicle on Sunset Avenue at the Wesleyan Boulevard overpass when he realized Whitaker - who has an outstanding warrant with the Rocky Mount Police Department - was in the vehicle.

Martin asked the five men to leave the vehicle one at a time. Whitaker shot Martin in the arm and the left side of his body before fleeing the scene with two other passengers, McCoy said.

Two Rocky Mount men, Eric Devon Harrison and Tyron Foreman, were arrested at the scene.

Martin was "doing as well as can be expected" and in "good spirits," Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley said Sunday afternoon from the wounded officer's hospital room.

If convicted, Whitaker could face a maximum of 15 to 25 years in prison, McCoy said.