Charlotte-Mecklenburg police want to question Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth about a drive-by shooting of his pregnant girlfriend early Tuesday morning.

Cherica Luvenia Adams, 24, was shot four times while she drove on Rea Road in southeast Charlotte. She maintained control of her car, pulled into the Wessex Square subdivision and called 911 on her cell phone.

Adams was taken to Carolinas Medical Center, where she underwent surgery in the trauma center and delivered her baby boy by an emergency Cesarean Section. Adams and her son were listed in critical condition Tuesday evening.

The baby, delivered 2 months before term, was not struck by a bullet, police said. Scott White, a spokesman for the Carolinas Medical Center, and police said it is their understanding that Carruth is the father of the baby.

Carruth, a third-year receiver, has obtained an attorney, George Laughrun, and has declined to be interviewed by investigators. Carruth consented to have his white Ford Expedition impounded, and police searched the vehicle and his home in south Charlotte, several miles from the location of the shooting.

''We believe Mr. Carruth could have some information that could help us solve this case,'' police spokesman Keith Bridges said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police policy is to not reveal the names of suspects, but officials said an arrest could be made within the next few days.

The police report listed the assailant as a ''friend/acquaintance'' of Adams.

''She was able to get us some good information to go on and that should help with the case,'' Bridges said.

Police said they had not recovered a weapon as of Tuesday afternoon. Multiple shots were fired into Adams' black BMW from another vehicle. A police source told a Charlotte television station that the shots were fired from a white sport-utility vehicle that pulled abreast of Adams on Rea Road.

Police officials described the felony offense as assault with a deadly weapon with intent to inflict serious injury.

Capt. Sean Mulhall said that Carruth and Adams were out together earlier in the evening before the shooting.

White confirmed that Carruth was present at the hospital early Tuesday. It was from there that the police impounded his car, speaking to him only briefly but not interviewing him.

A partial version of a 911 call Adams made from her cell phone was released, with Adams spelling out the street name, MacAndrew, of her location in Wessex Square off Rea Road. The tapes picked up the sounds of her moaning and honking her car's horn.

Police withheld the second half of the 911 tape as part of their investigation.

Farrell Blalock, 61, of 5229 MacAndrew Drive was sitting in his den in his pajamas reading the Bible when he heard a series of what he believed were gunshots coming from the direction of Rea Road, which runs beside his home.

''I heard several -boom, boom, boom, boom -real close together,'' Blalock said. ''I didn't count them.''

Then Blalock heard a car's horn repeatedly beeping and wondered whether his car alarm had been set off. He looked out his front window and saw Adams' black BMW across the street underneath the street sign with its hazard lights flashing, headlights facing his house.

The car then pulled forward into the middle of MacAndrew Drive and stopped temporarily before turning into Blalock's driveway. It then came directly across his front lawn and stopped 8 feet from his front door with the horn and flashers still on.

''I reckoned she pulled into my yard because she probably saw a light on,'' he said.

Blalock called 911 and ignored his wife's worried pleas to not open the door. By the time he got outside, police had arrived.

When police opened the car door, Blalock said he could clearly see five holes in close proxity to each other in the back half of the driver's side window, which had shattered but not collapsed. The witness said he overheard Adams carrying on a coherent conversation with the police.

White, the hospital spokesman, said the condition of the baby showed positive signs Tuesday evening, but he declined to comment on specifics, citing patient confidentiality.

White said that while the ability for pre-term babies to ''survive and thrive has increased a lot,'' he warned that this child was delivered in a trauma situation.

''He didn't come into the world under the best of circumstances,'' White said. ''His mom was critically ill. It's a great difference.''

Carruth was drafted by the Panthers out of Colorado in the first round of the 1997 NFL draft. After leading all rookies with 44 receptions for 545 yards in 1997, Carruth played only two games last year after suffering a broken ankle in the season opener.

This season, Carruth was criticized for dropping passes before he suffered a sprained ankle against San Francisco and missed the last four games. He was supposed to resume practicing this week and possibly return to the lineup in another week.

The Panthers were off on Tuesday. The team released a statement saying they are monitoring the situation but must defer any questions regarding the investigation to the police.

''Our primary concern is for the health and safety of those involved,'' the statement said.