Tawana Burns works adjacent to the Wilson County Courthouse.
As she was going about her day around 10:30 a.m., she heard gunshots ring out. As she turned around to look out her window, which faces the steps of the courthouse, she saw a woman lying on the ground.
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Burns's first instinct was to go outside and help the woman, telling WRAL News that the woman, later identified as LaToya Lucas, reminded her of her own children.
"I reached down to her. That is someone's baby down there. There was no one else. I told her, 'My name is T. I am here.'"
Lucas was one of three people shot outside the courthouse on Monday. Authorities told WRAL News that a Wilson police officer and a Wilson County deputy were also hurt in the shooting. Carlton Stevens, Wilson's mayor since 2019, told WRAL News that he had never experienced anything like Monday's shooting in his time in office.
Abdul Mustafa, 21, was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting, as well as other charges.
Authorities believed the shooting may have been motivated by revenge. According to the Wilson County Sheriff's Office, Lucas is the sister of a suspect in a shooting that killed a 16-year-old weeks earlier on Spruce Street, and that Mustafa was waiting on a bench outside the courthouse while hiding his face from security cameras.
Burns told WRAL News that she stayed with Lucas until EMS arrived and wrote down on her arm where Lucas was hit to help paramedics.
"She was trying to get up. Gasping. You could tell she was scared," Burns said.
As of Monday night, Lucas is in the hospital with critical injuries and is in surgery. Both the officer and the deputy had minor injuries, but are expected to be OK.