A 57-year-old North Carolina woman has been charged with two counts of attempted murder after allegedly shooting two attorneys who were representing the Rolesville Police Department in a civil lawsuit she had filed.
Incident Outside Wake County Courthouse
Gwendolyn White is accused of opening fire on Mary Harris and Jeffrey Whitley as they were leaving the Wake County Courthouse in Raleigh on Friday. The victims were struck multiple times in an alleyway, according to radio traffic from first responders obtained by WRAL.
Harris was taken into surgery, while Whitley was transported to a hospital in stable condition. Police confirmed both suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
White was taken into custody at the scene and also hospitalized, though the reason for her hospitalization remains unclear, as reported by ABC 11.
Motive Under Investigation
Authorities have not yet released a motive for the shooting, and the investigation is ongoing. However, the incident occurred shortly after a court hearing in which White faced off against Harris and Whitley in her case against the Rolesville Police Department.
The case stemmed from White's request for body camera footage related to a March 2021 incident where officers responded to a verbal altercation between White and two neighbors. No crime was determined, and the neighbors later sought a no-contact order.
White requested the footage nearly a year later, but court documents indicate she did not receive it until this year, despite the recordings being located in April. She filed a motion of contempt against the police department over the delay, and in January, a judge ruled the department had to turn over the video but was not in contempt.
White received the footage two days later and filed another motion seeking a new case related to the release of the recordings. The hearing on Friday morning was meant to address that request.
Belligerent Behavior in Court
Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce stated that White became 'belligerent' during the hearing and was ejected from the courtroom. She then returned to her car, retrieved a handgun, and shot the two attorneys in the alleyway.
White has claimed the body camera footage is linked to her mother's death last year, according to court documents obtained by WRAL. She alleged that staff at Duke Raleigh Hospital and other medical providers failed to provide proper care for her mother, Elleen, who had vascular dementia and arterial stenosis.
White claimed on social media that bed sores her mother developed were actually wounds from acid attacks. Court records also show White was previously charged with trespassing at Duke Raleigh Hospital while her mother was a patient and stalking her neighbors.
History of Legal Actions
White has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in Wake County since 1997, including a medical malpractice suit against Rex Hospital. She recently sued a local Baptist church and a parishioner over allegedly stolen kitchen supplies, a case dismissed in January.
According to the News & Observer, White does not appear to have ever won a lawsuit. Her extensive litigation led Judge Margaret Eagles to issue a gatekeeper order in December 2023, barring White from filing further civil or criminal complaints in Wake County unless an attorney signs off or she pays a $500 bond to cover potential court costs for defendants.
Attorney Seth Blum, who previously represented White, told WRAL that she had called the police on her neighbors 37 times, believing they were poisoning her through the air conditioning system, a claim he described as baseless. A judge eventually found White could not be entrusted with her mother's care, and a permanent guardian was appointed. Several nursing homes refused to take Elleen due to White's alleged actions, and visits were supervised after White tried to remove her mother from a facility.
White's mother passed away in May 2025, prompting White to post conspiracy theories online, claiming her mother was 'murdered' by the state, though doctors had recommended hospice care.
