Fatal Shooting Leaves Residents Scared

Police got a call about gunfire in the Lake in the Pines complex off Rosehill Road at 1:03 a.m. Officers found the body of a man who had been shot lying on the ground behind building 3949.

Police said they are looking at one person of interest and labeled the killing an apparent homicide. Officers declined to release any information about a possible motive. The victim's name has been withheld, pending notification of family.

Resident Nicole Miller said she heard between four and six gunshots and then "someone run and hit the pavement." A car speed out of the parking lot, she said.

Miller said she hid in her bed through it all. "When you hear four to six gunshots, you pretty much try to lay it down or get as low as you can," she said.

Forensics investigators later found a gun behind another building just yards from the body. They did not say what type of weapon it was.

At least six bullet holes were visible in apartment building 3949. The projectiles had pierced through second-story walls and sliced through the floor in the hallway.

Resident Durwood Bryant said he was surprised to find bullet holes in his apartment when he returned from an overnight trip to his mother's house. Bullets had punctured the interior walls of his ground-floor apartment.

"I'm glad I wasn't here. That's close," Bryant said. "I could have gotten hit by a bullet, cause I got holes in my walls now."

Two detectives spent Friday morning knocking on doors and interviewing neighbors. Residents told WRAL they did not know the victim or whether he lived in the apartment complex.

Several residents said the apartment complex has seen troublemakers before, but nothing like this shooting.

Mitchell said it was scary to have someone shot to death outside her home, "especially that time of the morning, because that's the time you're supposed to be able to get some sleep. And especially after the holiday, you don't expect that kind of thing.

"It makes you want to move."