Community leaders, neighbors weigh in on teen shooting in Fayetteville
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Derrick Murray came home to a bloody driveway and porch earlier this week. As he cleaned his front yard, all he could think was how close to home a Tuesday morning shooting happened.
"It was very upsetting due to the fact that I have two young boys and a shooting in front of my house, that just can't happen," said Murray. "The bullets could have ricocheted and went into my house."
Murray and other neighbors along Bardolino Drive said they've been shaken by a teen shooting that happened just after midnight Tuesday.
Authorities have charged 17-year-old Anthony Thomas-McSwain in the shooting and robbery of Jack Britt High School classmate 17-year-old Wade Sessoms. They said McSwain and an unidentified male robbed Sessoms of 90 Xanax pills and his wallet, before McSwain shot Sessoms in the head. As Sessoms tried to get out of the car, authorities said he was struck and wounded by bullet fragments.
The three were inside a car parked along the 2800 block of Bardolino Drive. A nearby homeowner told ABC11 that one of her sons, in his early 20s, had friends over for a gathering that ended at 11:30 p.m. Sessoms, she said, had been invited. Several others, including McSwain, had not. The woman said she and her husband were home the entire evening, and the gathering ended at 11:30 p.m. By midnight, shots were fired.
McSwain was arrested Tuesday, and is now being held in the Cumberland County jail under a $520,000 bond. He is charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robber with a dangerous weapon, and possession with intent to sell, deliver and manufacture a controlled substance.
Authorities have not said where Sessoms got the pills, or whether he knew the unidentified suspect. Sessoms was treated and released from the hospital within a day.
The shooting was in the county jurisdiction, but Sessoms and McSwain attend a Fayetteville high school. City leaders are now trying to figure out how to get ahead of teen violence connected to house parties. This incident is the third teen shooting this year involving Fayetteville youth and large gatherings.
"This is a real comprehensive situation that we have to fight on multiple levels," said councilman Mitch Colvin.
Colvin has submitted a request to the city attorney, asking the city to review a permitting process for house parties without violating anyone's constitutional rights.
"We know that if we know about it [the party], we can increase patrols to the area," he said. "We can provide some off-duty security. We can do some things to kind of proactively deal with it instead of reactively."
None of the teens' parents returned messages left Thursday morning.
