Fayetteville teen accused of robbing, shooting classmate

Investigators said Wednesday that Wade Garrett Sessoms, 17, was getting out of a car following a party on Bardolino Drive near Hope Mills early Tuesday morning when Anthony Deandre Thomas McSwain – who was in the back seat – demanded money and shot at Sessoms as he tried to get away.

Bullet fragments hit Sessoms in the back of head, and he was taken to a local hospital, treated and released.

McSwain, of the 6500 block of Green Meadow Court, was jailed under a $520,000 bond on several charges, including assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.

He also faces a charge of possession with intent to sell, deliver and manufacture a controlled substance.

Investigators say Sessoms had $180 and 90 Xanax pills in his wallet.

"We're lucky not to have a murder case," Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West said Wednesday during McSwain's first court appearance, in which a judge increased bond from $80,000.

McSwain denied any involvement, saying he wasn't in the area when the shooting happened.

Cumberland County sheriff's investigators are still investigating the case.

Sessoms told authorities that another person he did not know was also in the back of the car with McSwain. They fled after the shooting.

"It's certainly disappointing that we have cases with young people in our community – gun violence and that sort of thing – and we're treating each of the cases seriously," West said.