Greenville Shooter Details Emerge In Random Shooting Spree Of Strangers

Greenville, NC — New details have emerged in the wake of the arrest of a Greenville shooter accused of planning and executing a Walmart area shooting spree that hurt four people. Lakim Anthony Faust, 23, is now recovering in a Greenville hospital from serious injuries he received when the Greenville Police Department was forced to shoot him down to put a stop to the violent rampage.

According to an Associated Press report late Monday night, Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden plans to charge the Greenville shooter with four counts of first-degree attempted murder once he’s recovered enough to face the charges.

On Friday, Faust dressed in black and a bulletproof vest, picked up a shotgun, and began the spree by shooting a man seated in an insurance company vehicle near a law firm. He then ran across traffic to the Walmart parking lot to shoot more people there.

He then turned to flee police and may have attempted to enter a Toys R Us to resume the shooting. However, the toy store was already locked down, and he couldn’t get inside.

Local news source WITN talked to the quick-thinking local woman named Erin Pierce who alerted the toy store in time to let them bar the door to the Greenville shooter.

The police ultimately brought him down in a successful firefight. A fuller report of the shooting spree and Faust’s capture can be found right here.

The new details emerging about Faust suggested that the quick local reaction prevented a huge tragedy.

The AP report said that in 2012 Sheriff Neil Elks had denied Faust’s gun permit.

The troubled young man has had brushes with authority that caused him to be banned from Pitt Community College in 2006 for creating disruptions. He has had to be arrested twice for violating the ban.

The weapon he used in the shooting has now been described as a pistol-grip shotgun. He was still carrying over 100 shotgun shells when he was captured.

The Greenville Police Department didn’t comment on what tipped off the sheriff to deny Faust’s gun permit, but the new details slowly emerging in the case suggest that he might have been planning a random massacre.

The police have found no evidence that Faust knew anyone that he shot.

Members of the Kellum Law Firm have spoken out to WNCT 9 about the random attack. The seriously injured 64-year-old Geico adjuster, Timothy Edwards, appears to have been shot simply because he happened to be sitting in his car at the wrong time.

Kellum Law Firm’s owner Norman Kellum said:

“Everybody who sees this on television: You could have been the victim, or a victim. None of us are safe, and we should know it by now.”

Kellum has helped to establish a fund called “Greenville Strong” to assist the victims of the Greenville shooter.

[gunfire photo by Morrison via Shutterstock]