Publicola

A North Carolina man is dead after confronting a burglar.

Rick A. Thompson of Silver Springs, NC was shot during a gunfight in a grocery store owned by his family. Mr. Thompson had arrived within minutes of receiving the 4: a.m. phone call from his in-laws telling him there was a burglar in their store. Mr. Thompson went inside to confront the burglar while his wife Teresa waited outside. Mr. Thompson was shot in the chest but not before he shot the burglar 4 times. Ralph Casey, Mr. Thomspon's father-in-law shot at the fleeing murderer without effect. Mrs. Thompson jumped in her car, crashed through a wooden fence & ran over the murderer doing some damage to his legs. Mrs. Thompson & her adult daughter then grabbed broken pieces of the fence & proceeded to hit the murderer on the head as he fired at them without effect. Mrs. Thompson then grabbed the gun away from the murderer & attempted to shoot him but the gun malfunctioned. the murderer said, in response to a question by Mrs. Thompson, that he was there because he was hungry. Mr. casey's in-laws said they remember seeing the murderer in the store a few weeks prior. He claimed he forgot his wallet after bringing up a bag of groceries to be checked out. Mr. Casey said to pay him the $9 & change the next time he came back & let him go with the groceries.

I have sent an e-mail to the writer of this article to see if any kind of fund will be set up or needed for Mrs. Thompson. I'll pass along any information I receive.