Wayne man shot during alleged criminal act
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 7, 2004 1:55 PM
A Wayne County resident was shot and killed near Whiteville over the weekend after allegedly trying to force a man to give him a rent receipt at gunpoint, according to law-enforcement officers.
Capt. Bobby Benton of the Columbus County Sheriff's Office said Monday that the matter is still under investigation but expects no charges will be filed against the shooter.
Benton said he had no address for the victim, Cary Scott Sherman, 42, a former Goldsboro resident who was released from the N.C. Department of Correction in September and was living in the Whiteville area for the past month. His conviction was in Wayne County.
On Saturday at 3:42 p.m., Sherman and another man reportedly went to the residence of a man who had a washing machine repair business in back of his home. The man, Michael Strickland, also was a landlord.
Benton said the two men demanded that Strickland write them a receipt for nine months' rent. When Strickland replied that he would have to go into the house for his receipt book, Sherman allegedly pulled out a gun and made threats to kill Strickland and his wife but said he would not harm their child.
Strickland "had a revolver and receipt book lying on the dining room table," Benton said. "He reached for the receipt book, but instead picked up the gun and shot Mr. Sherman several times with a .38 Special."
Sherman, wounded in the chest, managed to walk out onto the back porch, where he died. The other man fled.
Sherman, who had lived on East Holly Street in Goldsboro, had a long criminal record in Wayne County. He had served three 11- to 14-month sentences after pleading guilty to numerous residential break-ins.
In the first case, he pleaded guilty in 2001 to break-ins to homes on Daisy Street in 2000 and Audubon Avenue in 2001 and stealing more than $11,000 worth of property. He then pleaded guilty in 2003 to breaking into his father's home on East Holly Street and to a Goldsboro restaurant on North George Street in 2002 and was sentenced to consecutive 11- to 14-month terms.