ALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — For Hedingham
resident Marvin Judd, Nicole Connors and her beloved wire-haired dog, Sami,
were as much a fixture of his routine as his daily drive to get an
egg-and-cheese biscuit for breakfast.
“I’d see her walking that dog,” said
Judd, 76, who’s lived in the densely developed neighborhood in Raleigh's
eastern outskirts for 20 years. “And I’d stop and talk to her on my way out and
on my way back in.”
Judd would talk to the human resources
specialist “about the Lord.” When she had microsurgery on her left shoulder, he
offered the 52-year-old former Catholic schoolgirl spiritual comfort.
“I would tell her that God is going to
heal her,” he said.
Connors recently told Judd she was
almost finished with rehabilitation. And, then, she was gone — and the peace of
Hedingham was shattered.
Police say a 15-year-old boy — dressed
in camouflage and armed with a shotgun, according to 911 callers — turned the
gently curving streets of Hedingham and the riverside greenway beyond into a
killing zone. When the shooting was over Thursday, five people, including
Connors, were dead.
Sami, short for Samantha, was found
dead at Connors’ feet.
Although police have not identified
the shooter, who was captured hours after the attacks and was hospitalized in
critical condition for unknown reasons, neighbors say they believe he lived in
Hedingham.
“It’s close to home,” said Joshua
Phillips, who would often join Connors on walks with his pit bull, Buddy.
Hedingham is much like most American
neighborhoods. You may not know the name of every person on your block, but
people greet each other across driveways and can always find something to chat
about.
But Phillips said Thursday’s slaughter
was a “wake-up call.”
“Letting you know how real it is,
where everything’s at right now. And, I mean, you can’t let your guard down,
that’s for sure,” Phillips said Friday, as police finished processing two crime
scenes just around the corner. “I mean, now you walk with a bit of caution. You
don’t know what’s going on, who’s into what.”
The sprawling 18-hole course at
Hedingham Golf Club serves as a grand gateway to the community along its
southwest border. Now, the brick ledges lining its entrance — each read
HEDINGHAM in gilded block letters — are piled high with flower bouquets and
candles, the state flag flying at half-staff beside the makeshift memorial.
Volunteers passed out free meals
across the street from the golf club entrance Friday evening while counselors
and a golden retriever in a blue therapy dog vest greeted the grieving
community.
With its golf course, lake and
community swimming pool, the sprawling neighborhood of single-family and
townhomes is a relatively affordable oasis in a booming real estate market.
Banana trees, azaleas and rhododendron bushes adorn neat lawns, many dotted
with pumpkins, ghosts and other Halloween decorations.
Allison and Braden Greenawalt moved to
Hedingham in 2019 shortly before the pandemic started. Even as COVID-19 forced
people to stay closer to home, she found support from her new friends.
“It’s been a very warm community for
people who support each other,” she said.
It was that same network of support
she clung to on Thursday night.
The couple’s townhouse is just a few
doors down from the home of Raleigh police Officer Gabriel Torres, one of those
killed. As officers gathered evidence from Torres’ bullet-riddled car, Allison
Greenawalt checked a community Facebook group for updates.
“It’s been a very warm community for
people who support each other,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks as blue
and white police flashers lit the night. “We are a group of people who care
about each other and stick together.”
One of the neighborhood’s treasures is
the Neuse River Greenway, a bicycle and walking trail that snakes along behind
the Greenawalts’ home. At least two of the victims were found there, according
to 911 calls.
As she walked the greenway Friday
afternoon, Sara Cutter, 31, said she sensed “a lingering sadness over Raleigh.”
Nature walks are a regular component
of her self-care routine, she said.
“It’s one of the better places to feel
like you’re in nature in the city,” Cutter, a salesperson, said as she walked
the path with a friend. “It’s tucked away with trees in a lot of spots. Kind of
makes you forget you’re in the city for a moment.”
That atmosphere of quietude was all
the more important as she processes this tragedy in her hometown.
“I’ve seen some somber faces while
I’ve been out walking today,” she said. “But it’s also been good to see people
out. The community — that’s what will get us through.”
Despite the tragedy, Cutter said she
intends to keep using the trail. But, she added, “I’ll probably never go alone
again.”
Tracey Howard said he and Connors, his
wife of five years, had always felt safe in Hedingham.
The couple, who met on Facebook, have
been renting their two-story home for about four years. But they were planning
on looking for a new home after the New Year.
“Something on the outskirts of
Raleigh,” the truck driver said. “Something with more of a yard.”
After what happened, he knows he can’t
stay in Hedingham.
“How can I?” he said.
Judd said Connors’ death leaves a
gaping hole in the community, and his heart.
“She was a sweet person,” he said.
“She had a good heart. And she was always kind and gentle to everybody she met.
She didn’t meet strangers. Everybody was a friend.”
But Allison Greenawalt still finds
beauty in the place.
“The calmness is a little broken,” she
said. “And I know that while we might be a little shaken right now, we’ll grow
back stronger than ever.
“You have to you have to prune a bush for it to blossom.”
This article was originally published on www.msn.com
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