A shooting outside the Wilson County Courthouse left a 19-year-old woman critically injured and wounded two law enforcement officers on Monday morning, in what investigators are calling a retaliation attack connected to a teenager’s murder three weeks earlier.
The gunfire broke out around 10:40 a.m. as people gathered near the courthouse steps. Witness David Winstead described hearing a sudden burst of shots, saying it sounded like quick popping noises with no warning beforehand.
Another witness, Bobby Jenkins, said he watched a man run through a parking lot firing a weapon before ducking behind a wall at a nearby business. The man later came back into the open and resumed shooting at police.
A Wilson police officer and a Wilson County deputy were both hit during the exchange of gunfire. Both were taken for treatment and are expected to recover, with officials saying their injuries were considered minor. The suspect fled on foot but was located and arrested a short distance from the scene.
Victim Tried To Help At The Scene
Tawana Burns, who works next to the courthouse, told reporters she heard the shots from her office and looked out a window facing the courthouse steps.
She saw a woman on the ground and rushed outside to help her. Burns said the woman reminded her of her own children, and she stayed by her side, telling her who she was and that help was coming.
She said the woman appeared frightened and was struggling to get up. Burns wrote the location of the woman’s injuries on her own arm so paramedics would have that information right away.
The injured woman was identified as Latoya Lucas. She was scheduled to appear in court that same day, facing charges of helping her brother after he allegedly killed 16-year-old Ladarrius Simmons, a Fike High School student who was shot on Spruce Street last month. Instead of appearing in court, Lucas was rushed into surgery with critical injuries.
Suspect Faces Attempted Murder Charge
The man arrested, 21-year-old Abdul Karim Mustafa, faces attempted first-degree murder charges along with additional counts. Authorities said he had reportedly been sitting on a bench outside the courthouse while concealing his face from security cameras before the shooting began.
Wilson County Sheriff Calvin Woodard said the suspect appeared to see an opportunity to retaliate for the earlier killing. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the exchange of gunfire between officers and the suspect, while the sheriff’s office continues investigating the shooting itself.
Local leaders, including State Representative Dante Pittman, spoke out afterward, urging young people in the community not to turn to violence and offering support to anyone who feels they have no other path forward.
