Four wounded in shooting at Sanford graduation party

Officers responded to 623 Scott Ave. around 2 a.m. and found Robert Bernard Fox, 42, of Sanford, on the living room floor with a gunshot wound to the chest. Fox was attending the party at someone else's home, police said.

"I just went crazy. I just blanked," Dena Fox, who wasn't at the party, said as she recalled getting a phone call about her father.

Robert Fox was taken to Central Carolina Hospital and later airlifted to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where he was listed in critical condition. His family said that the bullet hit both of his lungs, missing his heart, but added that he had been improving throughout the day.

"He's blessed. He's really blessed, in (doctors') words, and we are thankful for that," said his father, Ervin Fox.

"Just to know that he is OK, that he still has his life, that's a relief," Dena Fox said.

During its investigation, the Sanford Police Department received a call from Central Carolina Hospital that three other people had suffered gunshot wounds.

Dante Williams, 17, was shot on the right side of the head and right shoulder. Sheriee Watson, 17, received a wound to the right arm, and Kwame McIver, 23, was shot in the left arm. Police said they believe all three, whose injuries weren't life-threatening, were at the Scott Avenue party.

Police Capt. David Smith said investigators haven't determined a motive for the shootings and have no suspects. He said there were many people at the party, but most haven't cooperated with the investigation.

The lack of momentum in the investigation frustrates Fox's family.

"When are we going to stop it, especially shootings and things of this nature? Stuff like that is uncalled for," Ervin Fox said. "It's not just one person's responsibility, it's all our responsibility. When they say it takes a village to raise a child, then that means we've all got to do what we've got to do."