Woman accused in Wake County courthouse shooting has history of lawsuits
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A woman accused of shooting two lawyers outside the Wake County Courthouse on Friday has a history of filing lawsuits, many of which were dismissed, raising concerns among neighbors and others who had prior dealings with her.
Gwendolyn White, 57, is facing attempted murder charges after authorities say she left a court hearing, retrieved a gun, and shot two lawyers in an alleyway outside the courthouse.
The attorneys had been representing the town of Rolesville in a case involving White. Records show White has filed at least a dozen lawsuits through the years, often acting as her own attorney.
Many of those cases were dismissed.
Her legal disputes have involved neighbors, medical providers and a local church. The shooting followed a hearing related to White's lawsuit against Rolesville over police body camera footage tied to an incident at her former home.
Authorities say she left the hearing visibly upset before the shooting occurred. White later moved to Raleigh, where neighbor Aundrey Drummond said he recognized her name after the incident.
"When we looked it up, it's like, oh my God, that's our neighbor..That's kind of crazy. It's like, oh wow," Drummond said.
Drummond described a troubling interaction when White first moved in.
"She's had issues with past neighbors; she's been claiming people were trying to poison her," he said.
After reviewing her social media posts, Drummond said he decided to keep his distance.
"From a lot of different conspiracies, I guess, having a lot of issues with other people, we decided we needed to stay away from her at that point, we didn't want to end up on her list," he said.
Court records indicate that the list includes multiple lawsuits filed against various parties, including neighbors and the town of Rolesville.
In a recent case, White sued a church in Knightdale, alleging it sold kitchenware she donated and attempted to "defame her name."
The church hired an attorney to defend against the claims, and an arbitrator ruled against White just weeks before the shooting.
Among her more serious legal claims was a medical malpractice case involving her mother, who later died. Some have questioned whether the shooting may have been connected to that case rather than the Rolesville dispute.
At Friday's hearing, White's pro bono attorney asked to be removed from the case. The attorney, Aviance Brown, said she had already left the courthouse before the shooting.
"I am deeply disgusted by the online rhetoric that two attorneys who were merely doing their job deserve any form of violence," Brown said.
Brown also pointed to broader concerns highlighted by the case.
"It is no secret that we lack the appropriate mental health infrastructure in this country to address the needs of so many aggrieved individuals. And we absolutely must do better," she said.
White is scheduled to return to court in the shooting case Tuesday afternoon.
