Shots fired at city store
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 26, 2013 1:46 PM
A Goldsboro man was shot Monday night while he sat in a car outside Bob's Supermarket on South Slocumb as he waited for his mother to come out of the store.
Demetrius Tyshad Lewis, 24, was shot in the shoulder at about 7:45 p.m.
He was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital to be treated for his wound.
As police hung caution tape around the scene, a crowd gathered across the street.
"It's like the O.K. Corral out here," one man said. "These boys watch Lil' Wayne and Rick Ross videos and then try to live the same life. They don't realize people really do get hurt."
The store manager, who was inside the store at the time of the shooting, stood outside the building after the incident as police conducted their investigation, obviously shaken by the incident.
"He came in the store with blood all down his front, all across here," she said. "He said he was getting weaker and weaker, and then he fell out."
Neighbors came over to check on the manager. Each time she forced a smile and said she would be OK. They each said the same thing, that they heard four shots, very loud, one right after the other.
The victim's vehicle was sandwiched between the store owner's minivan and a white SUV. Onlookers speculated about the blood-stained windshield, the shot-out glass and the angle from which the shooters must have fired.
"You can see one bullet hole in the driver's door," one man said.
"Nope, it went through the window, you see right there? And there goes the handprint," another said.
Behind the tape, investigators trained their flashlights on the ground, along the exterior wall of the store down along Harrell Street. They huddled briefly to exchange notes, then decided to extend the perimeter.
Some of the crowd commented on the shooting and the police's reaction to it.
"Its a shame when the police out here have the power to put a stop to this but won't," one man said.
None of the onlookers would give their names. But they continued to talk about how the police weren't tough enough on the people they ought to be and about living in fear for their children.
When asked if the community held some responsibility for speaking out against those committing the crimes in their neighborhood, one resident said she wanted to but feared repercussions. She said many people wanted to but are afraid of what might happen to them.
"Why should we speak up? They come out here and arrest somebody, so what? We still have to live here," a woman said. She said she moved to Goldsboro seven years ago and every year the violence has gotten worse.
As for the police department's community policing initiatives, such as the mobile command center, the neighbors say they have seen them, but they don't do any good.
"They only come after the fact. The come out like ninjas out that blue bus. They're out here for a couple hours and then gone," a resident said.
It was two hours before a neighborhood man wrapped his coat around the shivering store manager. The crowd had all but dispersed. The investigators, more of them now, continued to look for evidence.
"It's gonna be a few hours before we release anything further," Investigator Steve Harmon said. "All I can say now is he was taken to the hospital and he is still alive."