Fayetteville woman faces attempted murder charge after shooting bystander who offered help

A woman was shot in the face Tuesday when she stopped to help a car crash, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said.

Around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, deputies responded to a crash on Matt Hair Road near Cogdell Road and a shooting. They found a woman with a gunshot wound to the face.

The women was taken to the hospital. Doctors said she is stable.

"She is expected to survive," Cumberland County Sheriff's Office Senior Sgt. Mickey Locklear said of the victim. "She [is] not related to the suspect.

"She was just driving along the road."

A witness says she saw the dust flying and yelling.

"We heard the vehicle crash four or five times. I ran over there to make sure nobody was hurt," witness said.

A witness tells WRAL that a bystander pulled over to help.

The crash victim got into the bystander’s car and at some point shot her in the cheek.

Investigators said the woman saw a crash and slowed down to render aid at the scene when she was struck by gunfire.

Visha Franklin, 41, of Fayetteville, was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and four counts of discharging a weapon into occupied property.

The witness tried to get Franklin to drop the gun he said she was in distress.

"She had stripped down butt naked and piled her clothes and looked at one firefighter and told him take your glasses off and look me in the eyes I’m god." witness said.

Another witness describes it similarly.

"She was saying all kinds of stuff like Lord Jesus give her a gun give her a knife she’s got a lot to do. Then she was hollering and screaming," witness said.

The shooting victim was taken to the hospital deputies say she’s stable and is expected to live and that incidents like these are rare.

"This is my first time seeing it. Not saying it hasn’t happened before but as long as I’ve been in law enforcement this is the first time I’ve come across this," Deputy said.

"An innocent person tried to help her, and now she’s fighting for her life," witness said.

Franklin was being held at the Cumberland County Center without bond. She had her first court appearance on Wednesday afternoon.

A judge changed Franklin's bond from denied to $500,000, Locklear said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office at 910-677-5495 or Crime Stoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477).