Suspect indicted in officer shooting
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on July 9, 2006 2:00 AM
A man accused of shooting a Goldsboro police captain in the chest earlier this year has been indicted by the Wayne County Grand Jury on five felony offenses.
Bobby Lee Rawlings, 58, of East Elm Street was indicted on charges of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill while inflicting serious injury, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and two counts of assault with a firearm on a law-enforcement officer.
Rawlings has been held in the Wayne County Jail in lieu of a $1 million secured bond since his arrest.
The victim, Brady Thompson, was wearing a bulletproof vest that prevented serious injury or even death, as he and other members of the Goldsboro-Wayne County Drug Squad tried to serve a search warrant March 15 at Rawlings' home at 1200 E. Elm St.
Thompson, a 23-year police veteran, suffered only a minor injury and returned to work without missing any time.
Rawlings and a second man were arrested quickly as numerous officers from local law-enforcement agencies arrived at the two-floor home.
Police Chief Tim Bell said Thompson and the other Goldsboro-Wayne County Drug Squad officers followed the proper procedure in serving the search warrant. They had knocked on the door, announced who they were and quickly moved inside to prevent a suspect from disposing of drugs. Rawlings was believed to have fled upstairs, where he grabbed a handgun, confronted Thompson and fired at least once.
The case was presented to the grand jury by John Rea, the assistant special agent-in-charge of the Greenville office of the State Bureau of Investigation.
The second man, Rico Deavon Lewis, 35, of Green Street, was charged with possession of cocaine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed in lieu of a $5,000 secured bond. He has not been indicted.
During its monthly session, the grand jury handed up 39 other true bills of indictment, including 18 for drug offenses.
Five people were indicted on weapons charges, three each on property and fraud crimes, two for sex offenses and one each on traffic and assault violations.
Six defendants were indicted as habitual criminals. If any is convicted of a fourth non-overlapping charge, then his sentence would be lengthened significantly.
The grand jurors could not act on one bill of indictment, because a witness was not present.