Defendant in N.C. Tire Store Murders Faces Competency Hearing

Time: June. 2nd  2015   Copy editor: Tyrefull

The man accused of gunning down two people and wounding three at a Durham, N.C., tire store in March 2012 is scheduled for a mental competency hearing next week, according to local reports.

O’Brian McNeil White, 27, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon in connection the incident at J.T. Tire. A store employee, 65-year-old Naomi Wright, and customer Abdelgadir Mergany Abdelganir, 32, were killed.

The three people wounded were John Turner, the store’s co-owner; store employee Terry Shaw; and customer Javier Ramirez.

According to a report in The (Durham) Herald-Sun, White’s defense attorneys said he is mentally ill and has been examined by doctors at Duke University Hospital. They said documentation from Duke was turned over to the psychiatrist assigned to the Durham County Jail, where White has been held since the shootings on March 23, 2012.

According to reports at the time of the murders, police have said evidence at the shooting scene linked White to the crime. Friends and relatives of White maintain that police arrested the wrong man – they say officers picked White up simply because he has a tattoo on his face similar to one witnesses described on the gunman’s face.

Turner bought the property when it was a grocery store and converted it into a tire dealership 28 years ago, creating one of the first used-tire businesses in Durham.

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