Four shot at NC law firm, Wal-Mart; suspect caught

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- A man armed with a shotgun shot one person outside a North Carolina law firm Friday before darting across a busy street and wounding three others outside a Wal-Mart before officers subdued him, police said.

Officers confronted the man outside the store and caught up with him behind a nearby Toys “R” Us. He fired at them and they shot multiple rounds back, wounding the gunman, said Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden. The suspect was expected to survive as well as the four others he’s accused of shooting, Aden said.

The gunman’s first target was seated in his car outside the Kellum Law Firm on the city’s south side, Aden said at a news conference. The firm’s main office in New Bern declined comment. Kellum has nine personal injury offices in the eastern part of the state.

The suspect crossed five lanes of traffic after the Kellum shooting and injured the three others before he was caught, Aden said. Police are still trying to determine the shooter’s identity and motive. He is in police custody at a local hospital, Aden said.

The victims are all in operating rooms at local hospitals, Aden said. He didn’t give specifics on their conditions or their names and ages.

The shooter was using a “pistol-grip shotgun” with an unknown number of rounds, Aden said. He had a bag filled with ammunition, Aden said.

“He had enough to really do some significant damage,” the chief said.

Aden said police are still sifting through video footage of the scene.

Greenville is about 85 miles east of Raleigh.