Timeline of North Carolina mass shootings and attacks

Robert Stewart mugshot

Robert Stewart – March 2009

Robert Stewart shot and killed eight people and wounded three others in the Pinelake Health and Rehab Center in Carthage in Moore County on March 29, 2009. Carthage police officer Justin Garner, 25, stopped the gunman with a single shot to the chest. Police arrested Stewart on eight charges of first-degree murder. A jury found him guilty of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

Alvaro Rafael Castillo

Alvaro Castillo – August 2006

Alvaro Castillo was convicted of killing his father on Aug. 30, 2006, and then driving to Orange High School with a cache of weapons and opening fire. Two students were injured in the shooting, which ended when school personnel tackled the gunman. A jury convicted Castillo in August 2009 on 10 charges in the case, including first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to all charges, and his lawyers presented testimony during the three-week trial from mental health experts and social workers who said he was psychotic at the time of the shootings.

Mohammed Taheri-azar

Mohammed Taheri-azar – March 2006

Mohammed Taheri-azar, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, drove an SUV into a crowd of students in "The Pit," a popular gathering place on campus. He pleaded guilty to nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of felonious assault. He told police he wanted to injure people in response to the U.S. government's treatment of Muslims abroad. He also told police he expected to die as a result of his actions – either by people at the scene attacking him or police shooting him.

Sgt. William Kruetzer

Sgt. William Kruetzer – Oct. 1995

Sgt. William Kruetzer admitted to firing at an exercise formation of fellow soldiers at Fort Bragg, killing Major Stephen Badger and injuring 18 others on Oct. 27, 1995. He pleaded guilty and is serving life in prison. He has since appealed his sentence.

Wendell Williamson in 2004

Wendell Williamson – January 1995

Wendell Williamson, a former law student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, opened fire on campus with a sniper rifle in January 1995, killing two people. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was treated for paranoid schizophrenia at a state mental hospital.

Michael Hayes

Michael Hayes – July 1988

Michael Hayes spent 20 years in a state mental institution after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for killing four people and wounding five others on Old Salisbury Road in Winston-Salem. Hayes has said he thought he was killing demons in human bodies when he shot his victims at a rural crossroads in 1988. Doctors have said he suffered a psychotic break brought on by drug and alcohol abuse.