'Very dedicated': Lawyer who died saving lives in Goldsboro remembered

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Cody Moss had just met Patrick White this fall and couldn't believe what had happened to him in Goldsboro on Monday.

"I was just scrolling through Facebook this afternoon and got an email from a fellow attorney that it was Patrick, and I have to be honest with you -- a tear fell out of my eye because it hits really close to home," Moss said.

They met at a networking event in downtown Raleigh. Moss said they talked at length and had coffee more recently where they dived into the intricacies of the law.

Moss is the founding partner at Piedmont Eastern Litigation which centers on family law.

He said he's already looking at security improvements after what happened to White. He's already installed a Ring camera right outside his Cary office. He's also looking to lock his front door at all times and make it appointment-only to see him.

"It is baffling that I guess there is no remedy to this aside from an attorney carrying a weapon of their own," Moss said. "How is an attorney to know that a client or opposing party is going to lose their cool enough to take a life?"

White, 42, was the attorney of record in a case with 46-year-old Francisco Sanchez and his wife, according to Gene Riddle of the prominent Riddle and Brantley law firm.

The couple had been at the Goldsboro law office on Spence Street for hours and were close to settling.

"There was nothing about this situation that led anyone to believe that anything would have happened here," a source told ABC News, adding that the firm was close to finalizing a settlement that would have led Sanchez to pocket a seven-figure sum related to an auto accident.

At some point, however, things took a turn and for an unknown reason, Sanchez left and came back with a gun.

He started shooting. A source told ABC News that Sanchez fired twice into the office wall.

White then threw himself onto Sanchez and took two bullets in an effort to save the lives of others.

"That goes to show you the type of character he had -- a person who would give up his life for a friend or colleague in that type of situation," Moss said. "Obviously he was very dedicated to what he did. He talked about his wife and how they relocated here to get her higher education."

White also leaves behind two children.

Sanchez later shot himself inside the law offices and died at the scene. Surveillance footage from a hallway captured the attack and has been provided to police, the source at the firm said.

ABC News contributed to this report.