Judge rules on motions to dismiss lawsuit in Hedingham mass shooting. What he decided
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Raleigh mass shooting in Hedingham neighborhood
On Oct. 13, 2022, seven people were shot in Raleigh, NC, in the Hedingham neighborhood near the Neuse River Greenway Trail. Five were killed, including a Raleigh police officer. High school student Austin Thompson was charged with their murders. Read The News & Observer’s ongoing coverage of the mass shooting, Thompson’s guilty plea and ongoing civil lawsuit.
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The civil lawsuit arguing more could have been done to prevent the 2022 mass shooting in Raleigh’s Hedingham neighborhood may proceed, a Wake County judge ruled this week.
Austin Thompson, who was 15 at the time, is charged with killing five people, including his brother and a Raleigh police officer, and seriously injuring two others in a shooting rampage through the Hedingham community. He’ll stand trial in February 2026.
The complaint, filed in October by the survivors and the estates of the five fatal victims, alleges the property management company and homeowners’ association for the Hedingham community could have done more to prevent the shootings. The suit also names a private security company, Thompson and his parents, The News & Observer previously reported.
Several defendants, including private security company Capitol Special Police and the Hedingham HOA, filed motions to dismiss the suit, but Wake County Superior Court Judge G. Bryan Collin Jr. denied those motions Wednesday.
Camilla DeBoard, an attorney representing Capitol Special Police, company president Roy Taylor and former employee Nicole Locke — the guard on duty during the shooting — argued during a March 3 hearing that the security company didn’t have a duty to protect residents.
The neighborhood’s contract with Capitol Special Police outlined specific duties that didn’t include chasing after intruders or personally defending residents, DeBoard said.
“That [contract] alone does not create a duty to protect or to serve or to do anything separate from what was outlined in the contract,” she said. “Harsh, but the law.”
Claudia Barceló, an attorney for the plaintiffs, countered the neighborhood HOA and property management company had told concerned residents not to take safety into their own hands when crime occurred. That implied the security officers on duty would protect the neighborhood, she argued.
“The extent of lack of response allowed this shooting to evolve into a mass shooting,” Barceló said. “There were 30 shots to respond to before [Locke] actually responded.”
Update: A judge dismissed Taylor as a defendant in the suit April 16, 2025.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 2:55 PM.
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