Shooting deaths seen as self defense.
May 20th self defense shooting at Carolina Beach
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Last updated: November 29. 2004 11:31PM
Store worker shoots, kills robber
By Ken Little
Staff Writer
ken.little@starnewsonline.com
LAKE WACCAMAW | The assistant manager of a supermarket in this quiet Columbus
County community was acting in self-defense Sunday night when he shot
and killed a gun-waving robber, authorities said.
To Richard A. Wilson, a religious man and military veteran, the action
was not taken lightly. Once Kinny Bethea Jr. finished herding him and
two young Hills Supermarket workers into a front office, Mr. Wilson, 66,
said he feared the worst.
“Most of all, it was about the young kids involved. Their lives
were in jeopardy. I assumed that he was going to take us out,” Mr.
Wilson said Monday.
The robber, later identified as Mr. Bethea, of Bennettsville, S.C., is
a suspect in several other Columbus County robberies. But at 9:35 p.m.
Sunday, 25 minutes before closing time, he was apparently intent on terrorizing
the employees of the market in the Hillcrest Plaza on Old U.S. 74/76.
Police Chief Scott Hyatt said no customers were in the store when Mr.
Bethea entered and approached Mr. Wilson, who was stocking a shelf. Pointing
a 9 mm handgun at Mr. Wilson, the robber demanded that he accompany him
to the office. Along the way, he ordered a young man sweeping the floor
to come with them.
As they got to the office, a 17-year-old cashier stood paralyzed with
fear at a cash register. When Mr. Bethea began to push her in the direction
of the office, Mr. Wilson said the robber was distracted just long enough
for him to draw his own handgun.
As the robber turned the corner into the office, four shots rang out.
Mr. Bethea, said to be in his mid-30s, fell dead with head and torso wounds.
“It was clearly self-defense. Here you got three people corralled
into a very small space at gunpoint,” Chief Hyatt said. “They
were definitely in fear of their lives. He mentioned to me he wasn’t
trying to be a hero. He was trying to protect his help and I would agree
with that.”
Mr. Wilson, who said he has a gun permit, downplayed his actions. Others
praised his presence of mind.
“He’s a good man. It’s a shame for him to have to shoot
somebody,” store manager Jeff Davis said. “But it could have
went the other way. (Mr. Bethea) could have killed everybody in the store.”
Mr. Davis said he and Mr. Wilson have worked together since the store
opened in November 2003. Mr. Wilson was previously employed in the grocery
business in New York state, retired, and decided to go back to work, Mr.
Davis said.
State Rep. Dewey Hill, the president of Hills Food Stores Inc., rushed
to the business Sunday night after the incident.
“Mr. Wilson is a fine gentleman, a good Christian guy and I think
he would have thought very carefully before he did something like that,”
Mr. Hill said Monday.
It’s not a general policy to keep weapons in markets, Mr. Hill said.
“Mr. Wilson said he was much more than an ordinary robber. He was
roughing him up,” Mr. Hill said.
Mr. Bethea is suspected in the Oct. 31 robbery of an IGA supermarket in
Tabor City and another robbery in the Fair Bluff area. No getaway car
was found outside after the failed robbery attempt Sunday night.
“We do believe he had help of some sort. There was no vehicle or
other person seen, but we have reason to believe he was cooperating with
someone else,” Chief Hyatt said.
The State Bureau of Investigation will assist with the case, he said.
Mr. Wilson said he plans to take some time off from his job.
“I need to try to recuperate, because it’s no easy feeling
I’m trying to put behind me,” he said.
Ũ
Ken Little: 343-2389
ken.little@starnewsonline.com
Robber
shot dead by victim
By BOB HIGH
The second armed
robber killed by his victim in seven days died almost instantly Saturday
afternoon when he was hit by five bullets while trying to extort rent
credit from the landlord of a friend. No other person was injured in the
shooting.
Cary Scott Sherman, 42, died on the back porch of Michael Lewis Strickland’s
home along Will Inman Road after Strickland fired six shots from a .38-caliber
revolver at Sherman, hitting him several times in the chest and once in
the right hand, according to Sheriff’s Detective Capt. Bobby Benton.
Sherman, who did not fire a shot from a stolen pistol he had in his right
hand, reeled out of the back doorway of Strickland’s home, stumbled
across a small back porch and fell to the ground with his feet on the
back steps after the 3:40 p.m. shooting.
Kinney Bethea Jr., 34, of Bennettsville, S.C., was killed Sunday, Nov.
28, inside the Hill’s Food Store in Lake Waccamaw by store manager
Richard Wilson while Bethea and an unknown accomplice tried to rob the
business.
The Saturday shooting took place after an argument concerning the payment
of “some rent money” by Nathan Tyler Jr., in his early 30s
who rented a mobile home from Strickland. The mobile home is along Live
Oak Drive, immediately behind Strickland’s residence, according
to Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Mark Lewis.
Tyler and Sherman went to Strickland’s home about 3:30 p.m. in Tyler’s
1992 Ford van and went to Strickland’s back door. Tyler and Strickland
spoke about Tyler making a payment for past due rent and Sherman accompanied
Tyler. Strickland told Tyler to go with him to a work building about 25
feet behind the home.
While in the work building where Strickland operates his appliance repair
business, Sherman approached Strickland with a drawn pistol and demanded
that the landlord give Tyler a receipt for “six months rent paid
in full,” authorities said.
At this point the county’s 9-1-1 Center received a call at 3:35
p.m. from Jennifer Allison Lloyd, 20, Strickland’s girlfriend, who
reported a serious argument and wanted help immediately. Deputy Lewis
said he was proceeding to the location when another call to 9-1-1 reported
the shooting.
Strickland told the two men that his receipt book was inside the home
and was taken back to the house at gunpoint. Strickland entered the rear
sliding glass door to the kitchen and eating area of the residence. A
round table was to his right and the receipt book and his revolver were
on the table.
Strickland grabbed the pistol, whirled and sank to the floor in one motion.
He emptied the six-shot revolver. Four bullets struck Sherman between
the waist and shoulders, another went through his right hand after grazing
the Lorcin pistol he held and the sixth went into the wall.
“People are afraid for their safety and are taking care of themselves,”
Sheriff Chris Batten said Sunday about the two armed men killed last week.
“People need to think more than once about trying to defend themselves
in such situations.
“So far, the shootings appear justified, but that’s a determination
that the district attorney will have to make. It’s certainly highly
unusual that two incidents like this would take place in such a short
time,” Batten added.
The pistol Sherman used to confront Strickland on his friend Tyler’s
behalf had been reported stolen Thursday by Hilda Ann Fowler – a
neighbor of Tyler. She reported the theft of the Lorcin pistol, plus a
second pistol and cash from her residence along Live Oak Drive.
The stolen pistol was found where Sherman dropped it as he fell from the
porch to the ground. A bullet was in the chamber, and the magazine had
fallen out onto the ground.
Tyler fled on foot, abandoning his van with the ignition key in it. The
van was towed to the Sheriff’s Office. Tyler was being sought at
press time today (Monday).
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