'Selfless and caring': Sister recalls slain NC State graduate shot in Western Boulevard parking lot
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Shawna McKibben always wants to gush about her younger brother, Cody McLaggan.
"He was constantly putting others before himself," she said. "He was just a very selfless human."
She's going to do that to honor him now that he's gone.
"Just be a safe space for people, love others, care for others and continue to work hard," she said. "Don't allow this to continue to sink in but continue to grow in this time and situation because I know that's what Cody would have wanted."
The man accused of shooting and killing the 22-year-old McLaggan went before a judge for the first time Monday.
Prosecutors say 19-year-old James Christopher Anderson could face the death penalty if he's convicted.
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The 911 calls released Monday paint a better picture of what happened Friday night in a Food Lion parking lot near the N.C. State campus.
In one of the calls, an employee at the Domino's next door said: "It sounded like gunshots next to a car over here. It's a black-looking Hyundai. It's a sedan. We heard three or four shots and the car next to us took off."
Eyewitnesses said Cody was shot while he was sitting in his car at that shopping plaza off Western Boulevard and Method Road.
The why in the case is still unclear to Cody's family. He was the only boy of seven siblings.
All of them came to Raleigh in December for Cody's graduation from NC State where he got a degree in agricultural management.
"Cody was such an important part of all our plans," McKibben said. "I think just between leaning on God and trusting him and living our life to the best we can -- just living our lives as Cody would want us to do."
She said the family is still waiting for an autopsy to be done before they go ahead with funeral arrangements.
The funeral will be in Thomasville where McLaggan grew up.
As for Anderson, his next court date is set for March 14.
