'My boyfriend is trying to kill me': Pregnant woman's 911 call leads to fatal shooting

Fayetteville police ID officer who shot man abusing pregnant woman

The call was made by 34-year-old Stephanie Williams from her Raeford Road apartment. "He said he is going to kill me and him...I saw the knife when he walked in," Williams is heard saying to a 911 dispatcher around 9 a.m.

According to Fayetteville police, officers forced their way into an apartment located in a complex in the 800 block of Greenleaf Drive to help Williams.

Police responding to the call say they found 40-year-old Lemuel Bunn standing over her with one arm around her neck and a knife in his hand. When Bunn refused to drop the weapon, an officer fired, critically injuring Bunn. Bunn was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he died as a result of his injuries.

In a 911 call, Williams tells a dispatcher that the issues began between her and the man she describes as her boyfriend a day earlier and she had been held in her bedroom since about 8 p.m. Monday.

"My boyfriend's trying to kill me. I've been stabbed," Williams told a dispatcher. "He basically had the knife at me and I couldn't move the whole night and I was scared to move," she said.

Williams tells the dispatcher that her boyfriend is not letting officers into the home but, when they eventually gain entry, they can be heard yelling "drop your weapon" as Williams sobs. "She was communicating with our dispatcher and she could hear the officers knocking on the door," Chief Gina Hawkins said. "And she started screaming at that point."

When officers entered the apartment, they found Williams lying on a bed and bleeding, police said.

Police said Lemuel Bunn, 40, of the 2000 block of Rebecca Street in Roanoke Rapids, had one of his arms around Williams' neck and was holding a knife.

Police said officers told Bunn several times to drop the knife and he refused to do so, so an officer discharged his weapon, striking Bunn in an effort to end the immediate threat to Williams' life.

Williams was in stable condition Thursday night at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, but the condition of the unborn child remains unknown, police said.

Danyell Lanier lives in an apartment not far from where the stabbing took place. She is also pregnant and can't believe someone would stab a pregnant woman multiple times.

"That tells me you don't care about the life that she's carrying," Lanier said.

The police officer who shot the suspect has been placed on administrative leave, a routine occurrence for an officer-involved shooting. The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.

Investigators have not said if the suspect is the father of the unborn child.

Hawkins said she's glad the officers arrived in time to stop the assault and save the victim's life.

"No officer wants to be the one injuring someone," she said. "What matters is that this woman is alive. Our response was on-point."