A North Carolina man accused in a series of shootings that left three people dead was arrested after the son of two victims — an elderly couple gunned down in their home — held him at gunpoint until authorities arrived, a sheriff said Monday.
“There would have been additional victims had a family member of the victims not intervened,” Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance told reporters.
A search warrant revealed the suspect, David Lever, 55, had at least 50 firearms in his home, Dance said.
Many more guns were discovered in the van Lever is alleged to have driven Friday around Greenville, southeast of Raleigh, opening fire at four scenes, Dance said.
The sheriff’s office identified the victims as Anthony Gribble, 80; Paula Gribble, 76; and Enrique Reyes, 64.
Lever is expected to be charged with three counts of murder, the sheriff’s office said. During an initial court appearance Monday, Lever used an expletive to describe the district judge overseeing his case, NBC affiliate WITN of Greenville reported.
He was ordered held without bond and appointed a public defender, the station reported.
A possible motive remains unclear, Dance said, and authorities are investigating possible connections between Lever and the victims.
Reyes is believed to have been fatally shot first, Dance said. He was found dead at his home after a 911 caller reported seeing a man lying in a driveway west of Greenville at 3:35 p.m., Dance said.
WITN identified Reyes as a retired university biology professor.
Lever’s home was less than a half-mile from Reyes’, according to addresses provided by Dance. Reyes returned home from a grocery store shortly after he made purchases there at 1:20 p.m., roughly two hours before his body was found, and cameras in the neighborhood showed Lever coming and going from his own house around the same time.
At 1:44 p.m., less than 20 minutes after Lever was recorded leaving his home, he drove away from a nearby gas station “firing shots from the van as he left,” Dance said, noting that the incident was captured on video.
No one was injured in that shooting.
Thirty-three minutes later — and less than 2½ miles away — Anthony and Paula Gribble’s son dialed authorities and reported that his parents had been fatally shot, Dance said.
The son said he was holding the gunman for authorities, Dance said. Lever was “promptly” taken into custody, she added.
At 2:50 p.m., deputies responded to a fourth scene that investigators believe is linked to Lever, Dance said. A house close to Lever’s is believed to have been shot into, Dance said; no one was home.
“We have reason to believe he was perpetrator of this crime, as well,” she said.
Lever’s next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29.
