(Editor's note: Colin Flaherty has done more reporting than any other journalist on what appears to be a nationwide trend of skyrocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse. WND features these reports to counterbalance the virtual blackout by the rest of the media due to their concerns that reporting such incidents would be inflammatory or even racist. WND considers it racist not to report racial abuse solely because of the skin color of the perpetrators or victims.) Videos linked or embedded may contain foul language and violence.
What most people in Greenville, N.C., thought they knew about why Lakim Faust allegedly shot four people near a Walmart parking lot is wrong.
Faust tried to kill them because they were white, a grand jury indictment released this week has revealed. This contradicts earlier police reports the shootings were random.
According to WRAL: "Faust, who is black, picked out his victims based on their race, according to the indictments. The documents didn't specify why Faust wanted to shoot white people, and police have not talked about why he picked out his targets."
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Prosecutors made this determination after searching his apartment and computer. Police also found a copy of the Quran and other Muslim books in his residence.
The shooting took place in June and began in the parking lot of a Greenville law firm. Faust shot one man in the face while the man was sitting in his car. Faust then crossed a major highway, carrying more than 100 rounds of ammunition in a backpack, to the Walmart parking lot.
Using a pistol grip, pump-action shotgun, he opened fire on several more people, wounding three before police found him and gunned him down.
"If we had responded the way police used to respond to active shooters, we would've had more victims," said police chief Hassan Aden. "The way we train now is, literally, the first officers on the scene go to the threat. That’s exactly what they did without regard for their own safety. They went right for the threat, engaged it and neutralized it.”
The shooter and victims survived.
All four of the victims were white. Justin Lawler was working at a nearby fireworks stand and saw much of the carnage after Faust walked by him without attempting to shoot him. Lawler is black.
The day after the shooting, police said Faust had a limited criminal history. Soon after, a clearer picture emerged of the 23-year-old shooter's long and violent record.
According to WITN, Faust was charged in Maryland with attempted first-degree murder, assault and attempted second-degree murder. "The case was remanded to juvenile court and is sealed. There is no way to determine what became of the charges," says WITN.
These incidents happened when Faust was 14 years old.
After moving to North Carolina, Faust had been found guilty of resisting an officer, trespassing and defrauding an innkeeper. He was also charged with injury to real property and personal property but those charges were dismissed.
He was arrested twice for returning to a local college campus after he was banned from a classroom for disruptive behavior.
He applied in 2012 for a permit to carry a handgun but was denied because of his criminal record. Most states, however, do not require a background check to purchase a shot gun or rifle.
The news that police had found evidence of racial motivation encouraged some in Greenville to comment that race was not the problem, guns were.
The vast majority of the posts highlight the fact that the shooter was black and acted out his crime with racial motivations. A lot of them sound rather smug.
Not much about the real problem – we had a crazy man shooting civilians in a public place – again. This is what happens when you have a culture of gun fanaticism and our political leaders take to the world with violent force to right wrongs real and imagined.
Another, identified only as southbrother4dems said: "One incident compared to thousands committed against black Americans!"
Faust remains behind bars under $6 million bail. His victims have been released from the hospital, but all are expected to suffer life-long injury from the shootings.
Faust was employed as a gardener as a part of a government job training program. Deborah Moody of the Intergenerational Community Center told WCTI that "she was very surprised to hear he was the one they suspected."
Faust was polite, showed up to work on time, and dreamed about opening his own record label, she said.
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