Lawsuit in Hedingham killings alleges shooter targeted victim due to racism, sexism
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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 his sentencing hearing.
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Almost two years after five people were killed and two seriously injured in a shooting spree through a Raleigh neighborhood, the Hedingham community is facing a difficult question: Could the rampage have been prevented?
In a lawsuit filed in Wake County Superior Court, victims’ family members and the two survivors argue the Hedingham Community Association, the property management company, the shooter’s parents and a private security company hired to patrol the neighborhood could have prevented the Oct. 13, 2022, mass shooting.
Austin Thompson, 17, will face trial next September on charges of killing his older brother and four neighbors and for injuring two others in the mass shooting. He was hospitalized for injuries after reportedly turning the gun on himself.
His father, Alan Thompson, 61, pleaded guilty last month to improperly storing a handgun that police say matches one used in the shooting, The News & Observer previously reported.
Now, Alan Thompson, along with his wife, Elise, also stand accused of negligence in the civil suit filed Oct. 4.
Here’s what we know about the lawsuit.
‘Known outcast and problem’
The complaint alleges Austin Thompson “was a known outcast and problem in the neighborhood,” getting into altercations with neighbors in the months before the shooting. The suit cites statements from two residents who accused Austin of using racial slurs and violent threats.
“‘Whenever [he] would go looking for trouble and get into it with people in the neighborhood, [he] seemed to pick on women especially,’” one resident stated in the suit.
Five of the seven people Thompson is accused of shooting were women. One of those killed, Nicole Connors, allegedly “had run-ins with the Thompsons” before the shooting, the suit alleges.
“Austin unleashed 34 shots on Nicole — more than the aggregate amount of all shots he fired against the other victims,” the complaint says.
Connors, who was Black, had at least 34 individual pellet entrance wounds and at least 25 exit wounds, more than all of the other victims’ wounds combined, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint alleges Alan and Elise Thompson knew about their son’s purported behavior, and that Alan reportedly participated in some of the violent remarks.
“[A]n African American woman who lived near the Thompsons’ home [r]ecalled Austin and Alan using racial slurs against racial minority neighbors, including herself and her young, special needs granddaughter,” the lawsuit states. “Other residents complained about Austin displaying aggressive behavior towards women in the neighborhood.”
That behavior reportedly included discussion of the Thompsons’ access to weapons, according to the complaint.
“Residents recall comments from Austin and Alan Thompson about their arsenal of weapons and their desire to amass even more weapons and stockpile ammunition,” the suit states.
Because the Thompsons were aware of these allegations, they should have secured their weapons and ammunition, but failed to do so, the complaint says. When police searched the home, they found at least 11 unsecured firearms and 160 unsecured boxes of ammunition, including a loaded .22 caliber rifle, according to the lawsuit.
In a statement released six days after the shooting, the Thompsons said: “There were never any indications or warning signs that Austin was capable of doing anything like this. Our family will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials and do whatever we can to help them understand why and how this happened.”
‘Hoodingham’
In general, the suit argues those responsible for the Hedingham neighborhood — the community association and the property management company — should have done more to keep its residents safe.
“For years, Hedingham has been plagued with an alarming amount of criminal activity, earning it the nickname ‘Hoodingham’ from its residents,” the complaint states. “Despite complaints by residents about mounting criminal activity and lack of security, crime continued to increase at Hedingham, until it culminated in a tragic mass shooting.”
The suit includes a list of 491 “acts of criminal violence” in Hedingham or the immediate area from January 2022 to October 2022. From June 2014 to Oct. 13, 2022, there were 3,832 reported crimes within a 2-mile radius of the Thompson home, where the shooting began, the lawsuit states.
In response to resident complaints, the community association hired Capitol Special Police, a Durham-based private security company, “to provide armed security services and armed roving patrols,” according to the complaint.
But, the suit alleges, the company was grossly incompetent, failing to properly patrol the neighborhood or address potentially dangerous behavior, including on the day of the shooting.
“As each round of gunfire rang out signaling a new crime scene, Capitol Special Police or [Chief of Police Roy] Taylor should have been aware of the gunfire and responded,” the complaint states. “Between each crime scene, several minutes separated the next round of gunfire.”
When Raleigh Police Department officers arrived, none of the security officers could say where the shooting was taking place, describe Austin Thompson or give a street address for police to respond to, the suit alleges.
“It was the residents of the victimized neighborhood that were guiding Raleigh Police Department and tending to their injured neighbors,” the lawsuit states.
The victims’ family members and the two survivors are requesting compensatory damages in excess of $25,000 and punitive damages from each defendant with pre- and post-judgment interest, according to the complaint.
Update: A judge dismissed Taylor as a defendant in the lawsuit April 16, 2025.
This story was originally published October 8, 2024 at 3:04 PM.
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