‘Terror’ charge facing man shot by Raleigh police officer has long history

When a 911 caller reported a man flashing a gun outside a Raleigh restaurant last week, he set in motion a criminal charge established over 150 years ago.

The caller said the man was waving a gun around seven other people while the men were “talking trash.”

Police responded, the man ran, and when he failed to drop his gun, an officer shot him in the abdomen, according to the Raleigh Police Department.

Now that man, Javier Torres, 26, faces misdemeanor charges of going armed to the terror of the public and resist, delay or obstruct, as well as a felony charge of altering or removing a firearm’s serial number

If convicted of all three charges Torres faces a maximum sentence of 3 years and 9 months in prison.

Going armed to the terror of the public

An 1843 North Carolina Supreme Court ruling defined the charge of going armed to the terror of the public, also known as going armed to the terror of the people. It allowed people to carry guns for lawful purposes but not in a way that terrorizes others.

“Going armed to the terror of the public has to be proved by a victim or witness being afraid of the firearm or weapon brandished to them,” said Mark Stevens, a Wake County assistant district attorney.

In North Carolina there were 393 charges and 40 convictions of going armed to the terror of the public during the 2018-19 fiscal year, James Markham, a UNC School of Government professor who specializes in criminal law, said in an interview with The News & Observer.

It’s the same charge that activist Dwayne Emil Dixon faced in 2017 when he brought a rifle to a rumored white supremacist rally in downtown Durham, The N&O reported. The charge was dismissed, along with a charge of bringing a firearm to a demonstration, after his attorney successfully argued the latter charge was too broad and infringed on his constitutional rights.

Markham said in order to terrorize people with a gun a person must be doing more than just openly carrying it.

Dash camera video released by the Raleigh Police Department shows Torres was walking between a Sheetz Gas Station on New Bern Avenue and a Regency Furniture store with a gun in his waistband.

As two officers pulled up on either side of him, Torres began to run up Rogers Farm Road toward the back side of Kingsborough Estates mobile home park. Officers told him to drop his gun, but he continued to run.

With the gun in his hand, he came face-to-face with an officer behind a trailer at 5457 Duckling Way, according to the video.

The officer shot him one time.

‘Not a throw-away charge’

Markham said the criminal act of going armed to the terror of the public could be firing a gun in a manner that’s not self-defense but it could also be brandishing the gun, as the 911 caller reported Torres was doing March 10 before the shooting.

The caller said eight men were in front of Sopranos Grill and that a Hispanic male was “flashing” a gun.

“They’re talking trash amongst each other,” the caller said in the call released by the Police Department.

Stevens would not discuss Torres’ case but said in broad terms “going armed to the terror of the people is brandishing (a gun) in any way that scares people.”

Stevens said prosecutors look at the totality of the circumstance before filing the charge. It requires a witness to state that he or she was intimidated or scared and that a reasonable person would have the same response.

“I’ve prosecuted this crime successfully in the past,” Stevens said. “It is not a throw-away charge.”

Gun serial number

Torres also faces a charge of altering or removing a gun’s serial number. Markham said this is typically done to make it harder to investigate a crime.

People typically alter or remove serial numbers when a gun has been stolen or when a gun was bought legally but is being used in criminal activity.

“A firearm has a unique serial number, similar to a car’s VIN number, that allows law enforcement to trace who the owner is and how it is passed from person to person,” Stevens said.

Gun dealers report gun serial numbers and gun buyers’ names to authorities. Stevens said modifying or destroying gun’s serial number helps criminals hide where the gun came from and how it’s been used.

Scratching, obliterating it or even painting over the number creates a “ghost gun” that Stevens said makes it hard to track lawful ownership.

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 1:18 PM.