Octavius Dickens pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder Thursday in the shooting of a man on Independence Day 2009.

<b>ROCKY MOUNT, N.C.</b> — Octavius Dickens pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder Thursday in the shooting of a man on Independence Day 2009.

Dickens was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for shooting Lanorris Smalls at 520 Dexter St. in Rocky Mount.

Smalls was found with a gunshot wound in his neck. He told police that he was walking when two men on a bike approached him. Dickens shot and robbed him, and they both fled on the bike, police said.<br />

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