Did THC gummies factor in fatal WakeMed shooting? What search warrants say
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Warrants say edible THC gummies may have affected Benji Martin Jr.'s mental state.
- Martin is accused of fatally shooting WakeMed Officer Roger Smith during a struggle.
- Martin was reportedly experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of the shooting.
Search warrants suggest the possibility that THC gummies may have played a role in the fatal shooting of a WakeMed Campus Police officer last month.
Benji Martin Jr., 29, of Garner is accused of killing Officer Roger Smith, 59, at the WakeMed Garner Healthplex on Nov. 8 during a struggle over a gun.
Martin, who was also shot, is charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail in the Wake County Detention Center.
Many questions remain in the fatal incident, with Martin’s supporters arguing he didn’t receive proper care from WakeMed staff and Garner police releasing few details about the shooting beyond calling Smith a “hero.”
Martin was taken to the emergency room by friends that day after experiencing a mental health crisis following his fiancee’s miscarriage and recent illness in his family, according to court documents.
Smith apparently had received little training in handling mental health crises; records provided by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office show he completed less than five courses on such situations in the 75 certifications he received in his law enforcement career. Before rejoining the WakeMed Campus Police Department, where he’d briefly worked in the mid-1990s, in 2014, he’d been fired from the Knightdale Police Department for a number of policy violations, The News & Observer previously reported.
The search warrants released this month offered a number of previously unreported details, including that Smith’s service weapon was the one used in the incident. Here’s what we know now.
Erratic text messages
Martin, a graduate of East Carolina University, had recently started working at the Fuquay-Varina location of Carolindica, a Raleigh-based hemp company offering cannabinoid products, according to the search warrants.
The night before the shooting, Martin worked from 4 to 10 p.m. with a coworker, who told police he was “soft spoken” and behaved normally, the warrants state. The coworker said he’d given Martin “an orientation/onboarding gift bag” filled with the store’s products, including “approximately 10 packages of edible THC gummies and 3 ‘pre-rolls,’” according to the warrants.
It’s not clear exactly when, but either during Martin’s shift or shortly after, he began sending “erratic” text messages to his friends stating “he was not feeling well mentally” and “that he was not ok ... and needed to speak with someone,” the warrants state.
When one of Martin’s friends awoke around 8 a.m. Nov. 8, he and another friend drove to Martin’s home to pick him up. The pair found Martin in a pool of vomit and took him to the WakeMed Garner Healthplex’s emergency room, the warrants state.
Upon arriving at the emergency room, Martin “continued to act erratic,” though the warrants don’t describe how. It’s not clear what prompted Smith’s arrival, but around 8:58 a.m., when he “engaged with Martin due to his behavior, a struggle ensued and the subjects struggled over the officer’s gun,” the warrants state.
A witness told police they heard Martin tell Smith something like, “You’re going to be the one to kill me,” according to the warrants.
By the end of the struggle, Martin had been shot at least once and Smith had been shot twice, The N&O previously reported.
WakeMed hospital staff retrieved the firearm and began helping Smith, while Martin stayed at the scene, according to search warrants. When first responders arrived, paramedics took Smith to WakeMed’s main campus on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh, where he was pronounced dead at 9:48 a.m., according to his death certificate and the warrants.
Martin, meanwhile, was detained by Garner police, who allege in search warrants he didn’t complain of any injuries but “had a significant amount of blood on his clothing and person.” It wasn’t until Martin was taken to the Garner Police Department that his wounds were discovered and paramedics were called. He would ultimately be hospitalized for almost two weeks, requiring a colostomy as a result, The N&O previously reported.
“Based on all of the above-mentioned facts, I believe there is a high probability that something triggered an altered mental state in Benji Martin Jr beginning on Friday, Nov. 7, and know that certain narcotics to include over-the-counter edible THC gummies are known to cause severe paranoia, anxiety and other negative psychological effects,” a detective wrote in an application for a search warrant for Martin’s car.
In searches of Martin’s home and sedan, police seized the following items, according to court documents:
- Shopping bags with three cannabis products.
- A Bart Simpson backpack with “various cannabis products.”
- A Blessed Herbs colon cleansing kit.
- Hemp hair conditioner.
- Rolling papers.
- Four journals from Martin’s closet.
- Martin’s employment documents from Carolindica.
- CBD hemp oil from Martin’s nightstand.
- Three vape pens from Martin’s nightstand.
- A “sativa cannabis device” from Martin’s nightstand.
None of the items seized from Martin’s home were the Carolindica items he reportedly received in his orientation gift bag Nov. 7, according to the warrants, but it’s not clear if any of the items seized from his car were the Carolindica gifts.
Hemp-based THC and CBD products are currently legal in North Carolina if they contain 0.3% or less of delta-9 THC; they aren’t regulated by the state.
Search warrants don’t indicate what the ingredients were in the gummies Martin may have taken besides describing them as THC or CBD gummies.
Court documents also don’t indicate whether Martin was ever tested for THC or CBD after the shooting or whether he told police he took any gummies.
In a Dec. 1 interview with The N&O, Chris Karazin, Carolindica’s CEO, said the company’s products are all lab-tested and only sold to those 21 and over.
He’s next set to appear in court Jan. 12, court records show.
This story was originally published December 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM.
