Sheriff: 2 shot at NC courthouse
Published 10:09 am Wednesday, October 29, 2014
NASHVILLE, N.C. — A gunman opened fire on two men in front of the courthouse in this small North Carolina town on Tuesday, sending panicked lunchtime shoppers ducking into shops along the normally quiet main drag.
The suspect was caught in the late afternoon after a manhunt that included dozens of armed officers searching the woods along a state highway with a police helicopter flying overhead. A second suspect was still on the loose Tuesday night. Authorities didn’t offer a motive but believe the victims were targeted. Both were expected to survive.
The shooting shattered the calm of the sunny lunch hours along Nashville’s main street, which is flanked by the courthouse on one side and one-story shops across the street. Witnesses on the strip that includes a flower shop, cafe and furniture store said violence is unusual in the town of about 5,500.
“We heard gunshots, like: Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!” said Judy Winstead, who works at a real estate office across from the court. “It was very loud, and when we came out we even smelled gunpowder.”
Nash County Sheriff Dick Jenkins said he believes the gunman targeted his two victims when he opened fire around 11:15 a.m.
The suspected gunman was arrested Tuesday afternoon and police identified him in a news release as 23-year-old Ontarious Montre Lewis of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The release gave no information on possible charges.
Nashville Police Chief Thomas Bashore said in the same statement Tuesday night that police were also seeking a second suspect, 36-year-old Demond Levar Morris, also of Rocky Mount. Authorities haven’t said what Morris’s role in the crime may have been.
Bashore said the gunman ran up in front of the courthouse, shot several times and ran away before he got into a light-colored car and escaped.
Authorities say one victim ran inside the Nash County Courthouse and collapsed after being hit in the hand and leg. The other victim ran down the street and was found in a lot with a back wound. Bashore said the victims, both men, didn’t work at the courthouse.