Man rejected from Army shoots up recruiting station in North Carolina, officials say

A North Carolina man rejected from joining the Army opened fire on a recruiting station in Greensboro, military officials say.

No one was hurt during the Monday shooting, though gunfire damaged the building’s entrance, Army spokesperson Lisa Ferguson said in a statement to McClatchy News.

“The station was closed and no Army personnel were present at the time of the incident,” according to the statement. “The suspect in police custody was an individual who had applied to join the Army but was disqualified.”

The building wasn’t empty, however. Two Navy recruiters were inside as gunfire erupted, and “they barricaded themselves behind an enclosure,” a Navy Recruiting Command spokesperson told McClatchy.

There were four Marines at the recruiting office as well, a Marine Corps official told the Military Times.

One bullet struck a bulletproof cubicle where a Marine had been sitting, the outlet reported.

Army recruiters worked remotely Tuesday and returned to the station Wednesday, at half capacity per COVID-19 guidelines, the statement said.

Greensboro police responded to gun shots at 6:21 p.m. and arrested James Cooper, 36, at the scene, department spokesperson Ronald Glenn told McClatchy. Cooper is being held at the Guilford County Jail with a $260,000 bond.

Cooper is facing six charges of assault with a deadly weapon, one charge of discharging a firearm into occupied property, another for discharging a firearm in city limits, and a charge for carrying a concealed weapon, Glenn said.

Cooper also had “several orders for arrest related to previous charges,” Glenn said.

Army officials said safety is a high priority at recruitment offices.

“Our leaders and personnel are constantly evaluating the current environment to ensure we are taking the appropriate measures to protect our force at recruiting stations across the country,” Ferguson’s statement read. “While I can’t get into the specific force protection measures in place at each of our stations, I can tell you we focus on visibility, access control, and physical protection measures.”

This story was originally published December 16, 2020 at 5:58 PM.