Emergency responders load a man into an ambulance after Lawrence police were called to a shooting in the 100 block of East 19th Street, Wednesday, March 23, 2016. The man was taken to a landing zone and airlifted to a nearby hospital.

A man accused of shooting another man Wednesday morning in eastern Lawrence faces a single felony charge.

Evan William Skyler Thornton, 20, was arrested Wednesday afternoon after he was interviewed by police for several hours. Thursday afternoon he had his first court appearance, where one felony charge of aggravated battery was filed against him.

At 8:42 a.m. Wednesday police received a report of a shooting at a home at 121 E. 19th St., said Lawrence Police Sgt. Trent McKinley. Two bicycle officers in the area were the first to arrive on scene.

At the home officers found one man in his 20s shot once in the leg, McKinley said. The victim was flown by helicopter to a Kansas City area trauma center and hospitalized. A condition report was not available Thursday morning.

Both Thornton and a woman, also in her 20s, were at the scene. The two were escorted away from the house in handcuffs.

Evan William Skyler Thornton, 20

After a line of questioning the woman was released while Thornton was arrested and booked into the Douglas County Jail.

Earlier Wednesday morning Thornton and the victim had an “altercation” inside the home, McKinley said. The nature of the altercation and the relationship between the victim and Thornton were not immediately clear.

During his court appearance on Thursday, Thornton said he was defending his life.

Douglas County Jail booking logs show Thornton lives in the East 19th Street home where the shooting took place.

Neither the victim nor the woman present during the shooting lives at the home, McKinley said.

A preliminary hearing for Thornton is scheduled for March 29 at 2 p.m. He is being held in the Douglas County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bond.

Thornton’s Douglas County criminal record shows a 2010 adjudication of felony aggravated indecent liberties with a child, according to Douglas County District Court records. The violation took place in September of 2009. At the time of the offense both Thornton and the victim were under 14 years old.

Further information was not immediately available.