Rocky Mount police officer recalls nearly being shot: 'It happened really fast'

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WTVD) -- What was supposed to be a routine traffic stop for a report of a stolen vehicle quickly turned into tense and scary moments for Rocky Mount police officer Cameron Joyner.

"It was a very scary situation I was in," Joyner told ABC11. "It took probably, it was a split second for me, to realize you know this guy is shooting at me. He's trying to kill me."

It was Feb. 9, 2023, when Joyner received a call for a report of a stolen vehicle. He encountered 48-year-old Antonio Wilkins Sr. and attempted to stop him.

Then there was a struggle between the two that resulted in Wilkins shooting his gun in Joyner's direction from feet away.

"When I caught up to him," said Joyner, "he turned around with a gun and fired several times at me from point blank."

Joyner said he believes Wilkins fired his weapon two or three times.

Miraculously, Wilkins' bullet narrowly missed Joyner and instead, the bullet struck his service weapon and sent the shell casings from his magazine into the air.

"Officer Joyner's case is nothing short of a miracle," said Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina. "That bullet could have easily struck him just in one direction or another and he could have wound up paralyzed. The photos are really horrific. You see on his bodycam the defendant level the gun directly at Officer Joyner. And those moments, they happen in an instant."

Easley's office prosecuted the case and on Friday, a federal judge sentenced Wilkins to the statutory maximum -- 15 years in federal prison for attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a felon.

"I can get the message out that if you level a gun at a law enforcement officer and if you pull the trigger, you better believe you're going to federal prison if there's any way for us to do it," said Easley.

Another officer with RMPD was on the scene and fired her weapon, striking Wilkins in the upper thigh before his arrest.

"It happened really fast," added Joyner. "And it was something I'd never experienced and I hope myself, nor anyone else, has to experience that ever again."