Rob Steele, the fiancé of Mary Marshall -- who was killed in the Hedingham shooting -- announced Monday he will be running for Raleigh City Council in 2024.
Steele posted the announcement video on YouTube.
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"After the shooting, support poured in and gave me something that I almost lost: Hope for the future," he said in the video.
"I can only do two things: Say thank you and pay your generosity forward," Steele said.
Steele said he started meeting with politicians at many levels after the shooting. While most of these meetings were very good and informative, Steele said local politicians were not.
He started to take a deeper look at issues like affordable housing and transportation.
Steele said he came to realize two things.
He said the city council doesn't care about Raleigh.
"The city of Raleigh is us; it's the people who live and work here," he said. "And when you blow us off while actively not engaging with us, you clearly don't care."
Steele said Raleigh residents deserve better.
"The second thing I realized is that we deserve better," he said. "We deserve a representative government that will take time to listen to our concerns and address them."
He pointed out that housing has become inaccessible for many people in Raleigh.
"... Many of us can't afford to rent in Raleigh, let alone buy a home," he said. "Yet they take more than half of their campaign money from developers."
"We deserve a representative government that actually cares about us."
Steele said he's running for city council to help the people of Raleigh.
"I think I can be the better that we all deserve," he said. "My name is Robert Steele. How can I help?"