Couple recounts harrowing encounter with armed man after deadly shooting in Columbus

By Marc Liverman

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    COLUMBUS, North Carolina (WLOS) — In a WLOS EXCLUSIVE, the man who said he wrestled the gun away from a suspect accused of shooting two people, one of whom is now dead, is sharing his story.

His partner is also sharing her story, describing how she held the victim in her arms right after the shooting.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that deputies were dispatched shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday to Ashley Meadows Apartments in Columbus for a reported shooting. Once on scene, officials found one person to be deceased. Another person was transported to a hospital by EMS for injuries.

“I just walked in and I saw him lying there and I just grabbed a hold of him and I asked him if he knew God,” neighbor Laura Jenkinson said while sobbing, overwhelmed with emotion.

That victim was barely breathing. Jenkinson said she held him in her arms, waiting for paramedics.

“It was almost as if his lungs had been punctured. I was just trying to press wherever the blood was and just rock him and hold him and let him know that he was OK,” she said.

“He smiled and looked at me, he couldn’t talk. He was gasping for air. He took three deep gasps,” Jenkinson said, her eyes filled with tears.

Jenkinson and her partner said it was when they ran over to help that they saw an armed man walking away.

“He was pulling the gun out as we were walking up like he was fixing to shoot other people.”

Ricky Toms said the suspect seemed to be smiling when he said this: “He said he was going to shoot everybody there and then shoot himself.”

But Toms, who’s legally blind, said he wasn’t going to let that happen.

“I had him pinned up against the rail. I had his hands behind his back and pulled the gun out of his pocket,” Toms said.

Toms said he held the suspect until deputies arrived and made the arrest.

While the couple said they’ve seen the victim often visiting his friends at the complex, they didn’t recognize the suspect.

In the end, deputies confirmed that it all started as some type of argument.

“He never caused any trouble. They were just a couple of kids hanging out,” Jenkinson said.

Jenkinson’s face was filled with palpable pain, knowing that victim’s mother is left without her son.

“He reminds me so much of my son. His curly beautiful hair and blue grey eyes.”

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