'It looked like a real gun': Man with pellet gun opens fire inside Cary Barnes & Noble

Jonathan Kyle Courtney, 18, of Glengarry Drive, was charged with four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, three counts of malicious assault in secret, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count each of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, discharging a barreled weapon into an occupied business and possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

The last charge was in connection with an improvised explosive device that police found.

He was being held in the Wake County jail under $560,000 bond.

Witnesses said Courtney walked into the store on Maynard Road and started shooting two pellet guns without saying anything at about 7:10 p.m.

One woman, who did not want to be identified, said she rushed her two children to safety.

"I saw him shoot a man with a gun and that guy fell over," she said. "I can see still that gun in his hands. I grabbed my children."

Then, the woman was hit.

"I thought I was going to die when I felt it hit my back," she said.

In the moment, she said she thought her skin was burning and that something was running down her back.

"A lot of people were screaming and people were running," she said. "It looked like a real gun."

Cary officials said a man and a woman sustained minor injuries as a result of the incident. Police said at least one of the injured people had a pellet gun wound.

Roads around the shopping center were closed as a result of the incident and authorities temporarily blocked all entrances to the shopping plaza.

Witnesses said they heard multiple shots and the sound of breaking glass as customers ran to the back of the store and hid under tables. Katia Gagley, 14, said she was browsing books when the shots started.

"Suddenly we hear a bunch of shootings and we see this guy and glass starts shattering because he shot the Starbucks," she said. "My dad starts like chasing after, towards the guy, and then I hear more shootings and then I just run out of the Barnes and Noble."

Gagley's father told WRAL News that he chased Courtney outside and around the building.