A North Carolina woman allegedly shot two lawyers handling a civil lawsuit she filed against police as they were leaving the courthouse.
Gwendolyn White, 57, is charged with two counts of attempted murder after she allegedly shot two attorneys on Friday who were representing the Rolesville Police Department in a civil suit she filed, the News & Observer reports.
The victims, Mary Harris and Jeffrey Whitley, were leaving the Wake County Courthouse when White allegedly shot them in an alleyway.
First responders could be heard on radio traffic describing a pair of victims suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, according to WRAL.
Harris was then taken into surgery, while Whitley was transported to a hospital in stable condition. They both suffered non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Meanwhile, White was taken into custody at the scene. She was also hospitalized in the aftermath, though it is unclear why, ABC 11 reports.
Authorities have not yet released a motive for the shooting, and the investigation is ongoing.
But just moments before White allegedly opened fire, she had appeared in court facing off against Harris and Whitley in her case against the Rolesville Police Department.
Gwendolyn White, 57, is charged with two counts of attempted murder after she allegedly shot two attorneys on Friday
Mary Harris and Jeffrey Whitley were leaving the Wake County Courthouse when White allegedly shot them. They suffered non-life threatening injuries
It was tied to her request for body camera footage related to a March 2021 incident in which officers responded to a verbal altercation between White and two neighbors.
Officers determined no crime had been committed, and the two neighbors later sought a no-contact order.
White then requested the footage nearly a year later, and the recordings were located in April - but court documents say she did not receive them until this year.
She later filed a motion of contempt against the police department over the delay, and in January, a judge ruled that the department had to turn over the video but was not in contempt.
Records obtained by ABC 11 show White had received the footage two days later, and the following day, she filed another motion seeking a new case related to the release of the recordings.
The hearing on Friday morning was then meant to address White's request for a new trial.
It remains unclear what transpired during the hearing, but Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce said White became 'belligerent' and was kicked out of the courtroom.
At that point, he said, she returned to her car, retrieved a handgun and shot the two attorneys.
White was taken into custody at the scene and was brought to a local hospital
Police say White opened fire in an alleyway outside the Wake County Courthouse
First responders could be heard on radio traffic describing a pair of victims suffering from multiple gunshot wounds
White has apparently claimed the contents of the body camera footage are linked to her mother's death last year, according to court documents obtained by WRAL.
She had claimed that the staff at Duke Raleigh Hospital and other medical providers weren't providing her mother with proper care.
Her mother, Elleen, had been diagnosed with vascular dementia and arterial stenosis, meaning she did not get proper blood flow to her legs and was at higher risk of bed sores.
But White claimed on social media that the bed sores were actually wounds from acid attacks.
Court records also show that White has previously been charged with trespassing at Duke Raleigh Hospital while her mother was a patient there and stalking her neighbors.
White had sought a new trial against the Rolesville Police Department over the release of body camera footage related to a March 2021 incident at her home, which she thought was related to her mother's death last year
'She had, at the time that I represented her, called the police on her neighbors dozens of times, I think it was 37 times - and they got sick of it,' attorney Seth Blum told WRAL of his dealings with White.
'Every time the police came out, they would investigate and Ms White had this fixed belief that her neighbors were poisoning her through her air conditioning system, which there's no evidence at all that that was true.'
Eventually, a judge found that White could not be entrusted with her mother's care, and White's mother received a permanent guardian to represent her.
However, several nursing homes refused to take Elleen as a patient because of White's alleged actions, and Elleen's guardian eventually required her visits to be supervised after White allegedly tried to remove her mother from the nursing home and displayed 'disruptive behavior.'
White's mother ultimately passed away in May 2025, prompting White to post a slew of social media posts about a conspiracy she believed led to her mother's death.
She argued that her mother was 'murdered' by the state - though court documents indicate the 90-year-old's doctors had recommended she be put in hospice care, which White disagreed with.
White has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in Wake County against residents and businesses since 1997
In total, White has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in Wake County against residents and businesses.
She began filing the lawsuits in June 1997 with a medical malpractice suit against Rex Hospital and a medical provider.
Besides the Rolesville Police Department case, White most recently sued a local Baptist church and a parishioner she claimed stole her kitchen supplies. A judge dismissed that case in January.
White does not appear to have ever won a suit, according to the News & Observer.
Still, she has filed so many complaints that Judge Margaret Eagles entered a gatekeeper order against her in December 2023.
It bars White from filing any more civil or criminal complaints in Wake County unless an attorney signs off or she agrees to pay a $500 bond guaranteeing she has the funds to cover the defendants' court costs if she loses.