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http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=local&Story=6286040
Driver hits 5 men during rampage
By Todd Leskanic
Staff writer
Abdullah El-Amin Shareef took a van Wednesday morning and went looking for people to hit, lawmen say.
Photo by Thomas Babb
Lawmen gather near a stolen truck driven by Abdullah El-Amin Shareef after it crashed Wednesday at South Main Street and Bowling Road in Fuquay-Varina.
Shareef struck five people as he drove from downtown Fayetteville north on U.S. 401, through Harnett County and to Fuquay-Varina in Wake County. The violence covered 40 miles and lasted about two hours.
Shareef, 25, of the 700 block of Green Street in Raeford, has been charged in Cumberland County with murder and one count of attempted murder. He is charged with attempted murder in Fayetteville and is facing one count of attempted murder in Harnett County.
Lonel Bearl Bass of Linden was hit as he went to feed his dogs off Loop Road about 9 a.m. Bass died on the way to the hospital. He was 54.
4 other victims
Shareef
Earlier Wednesday morning, police received reports that the driver of the van struck four other men - David McCaskill, Gary Weller, Robert Fortier and Seth Thompson.
McCaskill broke a leg but was released from the hospital. Fortier and Thompson were not seriously hurt. Weller was flown to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where he was listed in critical but stable condition Wednesday night.
Staff photo by Steve Aldridge
David McCaskill relaxes at his Daytona Road home Wednesday with his dogs Buddy, left, and Toby. McCaskill was walking the dogs when a van struck him.
Investigators don't have a motive. Shareef was taken Wednesday night to Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, lawmen said.
"I have no idea what set this young man off,'' Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler said.
Investigators said Shareef took a city van from a maintenance lot on Lamon Street just before 8 a.m. and drove north on Ramsey Street.
McCaskill was walking his dogs on Naples Street at 7:58 a.m. when the van hit him from behind. Naples Street is in the Longview Acres subdivision east of Ramsey Street.
Weller
McCaskill said the driver shifted into reverse and tried to hit him again. The driver then jumped from the van and began beating him.
"Then he walked back to his truck and started looking around the seats,'' McCaskill said. "I just knew he was going to find a tire tool and come back and finish me. I feel like I'm blessed."
Witnesses to attack
Stephen and Jennifer Renner, friends of McCaskill's who live on Naples Street, heard the commotion and looked out a bedroom window. They saw the driver hitting McCaskill.
"I heard a lot of tires screeching,'' Jennifer Renner said. "At first, I just thought it was a reckless driver in the neighborhood."
Stephen Renner saw what was happening and ran into his front yard with a .22-caliber gun. The van drove away as Renner ran into the street. McCaskill, who is 65, had a broken right leg and had cuts on his head.
Staff photo by Tracy Wilcox
Sgt. R. Reyes, a homicide investigator with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, places crime scene tape near where a man was struck on Bienville Road in north Fayetteville.
About 10 minutes later, drivers on Ramsey Street saw Gary Weller lying in the road. Weller, who is 55, was hit by the van as he walked near Summerchase Drive. He was taken to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where he was listed in critical condition.
Trey Edge, who broadcasts high school football games with Weller, said Weller had broken ribs, a broken pelvis and broken legs. Weller is a former football coach at Pine Forest High School and owns an insurance business.
"From what I understand," Edge said, "he had taken his car up the street to get serviced. He was walking back home and evidently this guy went across three lanes of traffic in an effort to hit him on purpose."
The van continued north and turned left into the Brettonwood Hills neighborhood on Bienville Drive. The van spun in the front yard of Robert Fortier's home and hit Fortier, who was not seriously hurt.
A next-door neighbor, Virginia Thompson, heard the noise and looked out a bedroom window.
"I saw the van leaving,'' she said. "Then, I saw (Fortier) walking up the driveway bent over."
Next victim
The driver returned to U.S. 401 and turned north. A short time later, the van struck Bass as he was opening a gate to his property off Loop Road.
Staff photo by Tracy Wilcox
A state Highway Patrol trooper gathers evidence off Loop Road in Linden.
Police think Shareef abandoned the van there, then took Bass' truck and continued north on N.C. 217. Just before 9 a.m., Thompson, who is 28, was hit by the truck as he stood in the front yard of his father-in-law's house on N.C. 217 in Harnett County.
About 9:30 a.m., the truck rear-ended a car just inside the Fuquay-Varina city limits. Jerry Phillips, Fuquay-Varina's police chief, said rescue workers arrived first and found Shareef walking on the side of the road wearing socks, boxer shorts and a white T-shirt. Phillips said Shareef ran from police, but a firefighter caught him after about a quarter-mile chase.
Butler said he had talked to some of Bass' family and had visited the home.
''It is terrible," he said. ''The families will never get over this."
Staff writers Alice Thrasher and Matt Leclercq contributed to this story.
Staff writer Todd Leskanic can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3572.
http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=local&Story=6286040
Driver hits 5 men during rampage
By Todd Leskanic
Staff writer
Abdullah El-Amin Shareef took a van Wednesday morning and went looking for people to hit, lawmen say.
Photo by Thomas Babb
Lawmen gather near a stolen truck driven by Abdullah El-Amin Shareef after it crashed Wednesday at South Main Street and Bowling Road in Fuquay-Varina.
Shareef struck five people as he drove from downtown Fayetteville north on U.S. 401, through Harnett County and to Fuquay-Varina in Wake County. The violence covered 40 miles and lasted about two hours.
Shareef, 25, of the 700 block of Green Street in Raeford, has been charged in Cumberland County with murder and one count of attempted murder. He is charged with attempted murder in Fayetteville and is facing one count of attempted murder in Harnett County.
Lonel Bearl Bass of Linden was hit as he went to feed his dogs off Loop Road about 9 a.m. Bass died on the way to the hospital. He was 54.
4 other victims
Shareef
Earlier Wednesday morning, police received reports that the driver of the van struck four other men - David McCaskill, Gary Weller, Robert Fortier and Seth Thompson.
McCaskill broke a leg but was released from the hospital. Fortier and Thompson were not seriously hurt. Weller was flown to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where he was listed in critical but stable condition Wednesday night.
Staff photo by Steve Aldridge
David McCaskill relaxes at his Daytona Road home Wednesday with his dogs Buddy, left, and Toby. McCaskill was walking the dogs when a van struck him.
Investigators don't have a motive. Shareef was taken Wednesday night to Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh, lawmen said.
"I have no idea what set this young man off,'' Cumberland County Sheriff Moose Butler said.
Investigators said Shareef took a city van from a maintenance lot on Lamon Street just before 8 a.m. and drove north on Ramsey Street.
McCaskill was walking his dogs on Naples Street at 7:58 a.m. when the van hit him from behind. Naples Street is in the Longview Acres subdivision east of Ramsey Street.
Weller
McCaskill said the driver shifted into reverse and tried to hit him again. The driver then jumped from the van and began beating him.
"Then he walked back to his truck and started looking around the seats,'' McCaskill said. "I just knew he was going to find a tire tool and come back and finish me. I feel like I'm blessed."
Witnesses to attack
Stephen and Jennifer Renner, friends of McCaskill's who live on Naples Street, heard the commotion and looked out a bedroom window. They saw the driver hitting McCaskill.
"I heard a lot of tires screeching,'' Jennifer Renner said. "At first, I just thought it was a reckless driver in the neighborhood."
Stephen Renner saw what was happening and ran into his front yard with a .22-caliber gun. The van drove away as Renner ran into the street. McCaskill, who is 65, had a broken right leg and had cuts on his head.
Staff photo by Tracy Wilcox
Sgt. R. Reyes, a homicide investigator with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, places crime scene tape near where a man was struck on Bienville Road in north Fayetteville.
About 10 minutes later, drivers on Ramsey Street saw Gary Weller lying in the road. Weller, who is 55, was hit by the van as he walked near Summerchase Drive. He was taken to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where he was listed in critical condition.
Trey Edge, who broadcasts high school football games with Weller, said Weller had broken ribs, a broken pelvis and broken legs. Weller is a former football coach at Pine Forest High School and owns an insurance business.
"From what I understand," Edge said, "he had taken his car up the street to get serviced. He was walking back home and evidently this guy went across three lanes of traffic in an effort to hit him on purpose."
The van continued north and turned left into the Brettonwood Hills neighborhood on Bienville Drive. The van spun in the front yard of Robert Fortier's home and hit Fortier, who was not seriously hurt.
A next-door neighbor, Virginia Thompson, heard the noise and looked out a bedroom window.
"I saw the van leaving,'' she said. "Then, I saw (Fortier) walking up the driveway bent over."
Next victim
The driver returned to U.S. 401 and turned north. A short time later, the van struck Bass as he was opening a gate to his property off Loop Road.
Staff photo by Tracy Wilcox
A state Highway Patrol trooper gathers evidence off Loop Road in Linden.
Police think Shareef abandoned the van there, then took Bass' truck and continued north on N.C. 217. Just before 9 a.m., Thompson, who is 28, was hit by the truck as he stood in the front yard of his father-in-law's house on N.C. 217 in Harnett County.
About 9:30 a.m., the truck rear-ended a car just inside the Fuquay-Varina city limits. Jerry Phillips, Fuquay-Varina's police chief, said rescue workers arrived first and found Shareef walking on the side of the road wearing socks, boxer shorts and a white T-shirt. Phillips said Shareef ran from police, but a firefighter caught him after about a quarter-mile chase.
Butler said he had talked to some of Bass' family and had visited the home.
''It is terrible," he said. ''The families will never get over this."
Staff writers Alice Thrasher and Matt Leclercq contributed to this story.
Staff writer Todd Leskanic can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3572.
Abdullah El-Amin Shareef 
