Woman shot man who followed her to north Raleigh Food Lion parking lot, tried to open her car door

Raleigh police will not file charges after a woman shot and killed a man in the parking lot of a Food Lion grocery store.

According to police, 49-year-old Steven McLamb is accused of tugging on a woman’s car door handle Tuesday after following her to the store at 7713 Lead Mine Road.

He reportedly became aggressive as they were driving, and the woman shot McLamb in self defense.

McLamb died from his injuries in the hospital.

Raleigh police Maj. Brian Harrison said that authorities do not plan to file charges unless new evidence becomes available.

Defense Attorney Lee Turner said McLamb contributed to the incident.

"It's obvious this individual contributed to what occurred to him that day by his own actions," Turner said.

Turner mentions Statute 14-51.2 -- commonly referred to as the Castle Doctrine.

"Basically saying your home, your automobile, your workplace are considered to be an individual's castle and you have a right to defend yourself inside those locations," Turner said.

According to the law, the person defending has to feel there is an imminent threat of serious bodily injury to themselves.

"The law presumes she was afraid for her life because this person was trying to unlawfully enter her 'castle,' her car," said Daniel Meier, a defense attorney.

This Food Lion on Lead Mine Road reopened Wednesday morning hours after the shooting investigation that kept police busy until almost 3 a.m.

The WRAL Breaking News Tracker was at the scene while police investigated. It all started around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and remained an active scene for about nine hours.

People who live nearby said north Raleigh is usually a quiet area, and they’re not used to seeing this type of police activity.

Three shootings within minutes of each other

Tuesday's shooting is one of three crime investigations authorities are looking into in north Raleigh.

Raleigh police responded to multiple shooting scenes within minutes on Tuesday afternoon, leading to traffic shutdowns and store closures within miles of each other.

Police gathered at the intersection of Glenwood Avenue and Creedmoor Road, shutting down traffic near Crabtree Valley Mall around 5:20 p.m. They found a woman with a gunshot wound. The woman was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said there is no threat to the community from this shooting.

Kevin Lopez, 23, was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, felony discharging a weapon into occupied property resulting in serious bodily injury, felony attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, felony attempted obtain property by false pretense, two counts of felony conspiracy and felony possession of firearm by felon.

A white SUV appeared to be at the center of the investigation. The road reopened shortly after 6 p.m.

Officers were also seen at the Walmart at Townridge Shopping Center along Glenwood Avenue Tuesday afternoon.

Much of the parking lot was marked with crime scene tape.

North Raleigh residents scared

One resident said the shootings are very surprising for that side of Raleigh.

"It's scary," one resident said. "This is very family oriented up here in north Raleigh. For a large town it feels small, so that feels really close to home."

Ryan Perez, a Raleigh resident, was shopping at the Food Lion when the gunfire started. His car became part of the crime scene and he was forced to walk home to find transportation in order to pick up his groceries.

"It's rather annoying. I'm having to walk all the way, probably about a mile-and-a-half to my house, just to get another vehicle so I can take my stuff and go home," Perez said.

Hannah Kunkel, a mother living in North Raleigh, said she was surprised to see the amount of police in what she calls a "quiet community," and is glad no one else was hurt.

"If we would have come to get ice cream in a couple hours earlier, it could have been different," Kunkel said. "We grocery shop here. Our neighbor comes up here everyday. SO I wanna go home to make sure that he wasn't here and that he was okay."

It's unclear if the scenes are connected.