TRENTON — Trenton’s mayor said it was hard to believe something you only hear about actually happened to a member of her family.
Darlene Spivey’s first cousin, Carroll Oakes, was a victim in the June 21 Greenville shooting spree that left four people and the shooter injured.
Lakim Anthony Faust, 23, of Greenville, allegedly opened fire that morning outside a law firm on Greenville Boulevard before walking across the street towards a shopping center. He shot three people in the shopping center parking lot before police shot him.
Three victims, including Oakes, were treated at Vidant Medical Center as Faust was charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder. He will face additional charges for shooting at officers, The Daily Reflector of Greenville reported.
Oakes was shot in his stomach, both arms and his hand. Spivey said there was too much swelling to sew the wounds, so he was being treated in isolation because of possible infection earlier this week. He is close to 70 years old.
“It was just so hard to believe,” said Spivey, who initially heard about the shooting via the Internet. “I didn’t know he was involved until my brother called me.”
Oakes lives in Grifton and Spivey said he was emptying trash from his car near the front entrance receptacle of the shopping plaza when he was shot. He was with his wife but dropped her off at the door and parked the car.
As a town mayor, she couldn’t imagine how much a shooting tragedy would frighten a city.
“Thank goodness the police officers … responded as fast as they did,” Spivey said. “It would petrify me.”
Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden said in a press conference, “the first officer was on (the) scene in 40 seconds.”
He said the shooter has no significant criminal history and is being treated for wounds while in police custody at Vidant.
Spivey thinks Oakes will need a lot of rehabilitation to heal his injuries.
“I wish him the best and will hold tight to find out what the next step is,” she said. “You have to be so careful of your surrounding now it’s scary.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 and Jessika.Morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JessikaMorgan.