Qualla: Carthage Nursing Home Shooting

Carthage Nursing Home Shooting: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Eight people died at Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation on the morning of March 29, 2009. Their names are Jerry Avant Jr., who was 39 years old and a nurse; Louise DeKler, 98; Lillian Dunn, 89; Tessie Garner, 75; John Walter Goldston, 78; Bessie Hedrick, 78; Margaret Johnson, 89; and Jesse Vernon Musser, 88. They are the story. Robert Stewart, the man who killed them, came looking for his estranged wife Wanda Neal, a nurse at the facility who had left him three weeks earlier after he held a gun to her head. She had been reassigned to the Alzheimer's unit that morning and was not in her usual hall. When she heard the shooting start she locked herself in a passcode-protected bathroom. She survived. Seven elderly residents and a young nurse trying to stop the gunman did not.

Carthage Nursing Home Shooting: The Eight

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Louise DeKler was 98 years old. Lillian Dunn was 89. Margaret Johnson was 89. Jesse Vernon Musser was 88. John Walter Goldston was 78. Bessie Hedrick was 78. Tessie Garner was 75. Two of the residents were in their wheelchairs when they were shot. The staff at Pinelake - a 120-be...

Carthage Nursing Home Shooting: Cpl. Justin Garner

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Carthage had one police officer on duty that Sunday. His name was Justin Garner. He was 25. When the first emergency calls came in at about 10:00 a.m., he was dispatched alone to the scene. Five minutes later he was inside the nursing home, facing Stewart in a hallway. He gave St...

Carthage Nursing Home Shooting: The Trial

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Stewart was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. His defense attorneys argued that he had been taking the prescription sleep medication Ambien for two years and was under its influence the morning of the shooting - therefore, they said, incapable of the premeditation...

Carthage Nursing Home Shooting: What Carthage Remembers

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The town of Carthage held a memorial service on April 19, 2009, three weeks after the shooting. WRAL filmed it. The chairs filled. Family members spoke. The names of the eight were read aloud, slowly, as a single bell rang for each. Carthage is a small town - the population is un...