SHELBY, N.C. (AP) _ Authorities in North Carolina say four men suffered gunshot wounds in a ``running gun battle'' while driving on a highway.

The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office said in a news release it appears shots were fired between the occupants of two vehicles around 2:15 a.m. Saturday on U.S. 74 near Kings Mountain.

One vehicle carrying three wounded men ended up stopped in the eastbound lane, and the other left the scene. The four men who got shot were treated at hospitals for wounds that did not appear to be life-threatening. All are in their mid-to-late 20s.

Sheriff Alan Norman called it an ``incredibly stupid incident with so much potential danger to innocent people.'' The participants were not cooperating with investigators.

Cleveland County is on the North Carolina-South Carolina line.