LAURENS -- A Laurens police officer is recovering in a Greenville hospital after being shot while trying to serve a search warrant Friday in a drug investigation.

Capt. Harold Preston was shot in the right shoulder, with the bullet traveling to his chest, according to Laurens Police Chief Robin Morse.

Preston was being treated at Greenville Memorial Hospital, where he was airlifted Friday morning.

"He's going to recover," Morse said. "The bullet didn't hit any vital organs. It did break a couple of bones, though."

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Officer Matthew Veal, who has been with the department for 21/2 years, was injured during the gun battle, but officials aren't certain whether he was shot.

"He said he felt something hit his chest, but we couldn't find any bullet holes in his vest," Morse said.

Veal was treated and released Friday from Laurens County Hospital.

Two men and a pregnant woman were being held Friday evening at the Laurens city jail pending arrest on a variety of charges, Morse said.

Morse said 11 officers from his department were attempting to serve a search warrant at 211 Cora St. around 6:30 a.m. Friday.

The officers knocked on the front door, announced themselves and then broke the door down, he said.

Morse said he didn't know which of the suspects or how many of them opened fire as officers entered the home. The officers returned the gunfire and got out of the home, taking their wounded out with them, he said.

Once outside, they began talking with the three adults inside, Morse said. When the officers called for them to step outside, the three came out of the house without incident, he said.

Two children, ages 9 months and 4 years, were in the house with the adults but weren't injured. They were placed in the care of relatives, Morse said.

None of the suspects was injured, police said.

Some residents who live in the old Watts Mill neighborhood were still asleep when the shooting started.

Jean Simmons and her son Ronnie live next door to the 211 Cora Street address. Their bedrooms face the side of the house next to 211, and when Jean heard the shooting begin, she ran to her son's room.

"I told him to get up because shots were being fired," she said. "He told me everything was OK, it was just someone shooting off firecrackers."

They huddled in their living room until officers came to their door to explain what had happened.

Jimmy and Joanne Stokes said they were sleeping when the shots were fired.

"I was lying in bed trying to sleep and I heard gunshots," Jimmy Stokes said. "It's hard to say how many -- I'd guess about eight or nine, rapid fire.

"After they stopped, I went back to sleep. We're getting used to the gunfire," he said.

Morse said both officers were doing as they are trained when they executed the search warrant.

Preston has been with the department since 1991,

He said delivering warrants can be an especially dangerous situation because each instance differs from the last.

"We haven't had any where shots were fired, but we have had incidents where things got a little hairy," Morse said. "You go in on some of these things and the suspect is supposed to be bad. But when you go in there, they're not as bad as you thought."

Morse said each instance is evaluated based on whether or not the suspect is high-risk.

"We figured this one was a high-risk entry because of the history of one of the suspects," Morse said. "We don't take any of them lightly, though."

He said all the team members wore bulletproof vests.

Morse said authorities were still sorting out charges late Friday for the three suspects and that warrants will be issued today.

He couldn't say who would be charged with what, but said there would be drug-related charges stemming from drugs found in the patrol car after the suspects had been taken to the city jail.

Morse said he has turned the investigation over to the State Law Enforcement Division.