By Faith Wardwell

Source The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.

A man is in custody after police say he shot a woman outside the Wilson County Courthouse and then traded gunfire with police — an incident officials believe was in retaliation for a fatal shooting last month.

Abdul Karim Mustafa, 21, of Wilson, faces four charges, including attempted first-degree murder and going armed to terror of the public after police said he approached a 19-year-old woman who was entering the courthouse and shot her several times before fleeing.

Police believe the incident was connected to a shooting from several weeks ago that killed a 16-year-old, according to Wilson County Sheriff Calvin L. Woodard Jr.

“Based on information, we can at least say there is some connection between the suspect, the female, and an incident that occurred several weeks ago, and it possibly could have been some form of retaliation,” Woodard said during a news conference Monday afternoon.

Downtown Wilson is about 45 miles east of Raleigh. Alleged shooter ‘may be familiar’ with Wilson teen who was fatally shot

Local media outlets previously reported a 16-year-old boy was found shot dead June 23 inside a home on Spruce Street in Wilson, which is in Wilson County about 45 miles east of Raleigh. A 17-year-old boy was charged with murder, but was not publicly identified because of his age.

Family members later identified the 16-year-old as Laddarius Simmons, a rising sophomore at Fike High School, according to ABC11, The News & Observer’s newsgathering partner.

Woodard declined to provide details of the alleged relationship between Monday’s suspect and victim. But he said investigators believe the woman who was shot is related to the person who allegedly shot and killed the 16-year-old.

Investigators also believe Mustafa “may be familiar” with the teen who was killed in the initial shooting.

The young woman, whom Woodard didn’t name, is in critical condition and was undergoing surgery at a local hospital as of 3 p.m.

Woodard said after firing shots at the courthouse, Mustafa ran down several blocks before encountering police officers, with the two groups exchanging gunfire. A Wilson County sheriff’s deputy — who was wearing body armor — and a Wilson police officer were both hit but received only minor injuries and are in stable condition. Wilson shooting follows Wake County courthouse shooting in Raleigh

The incident in downtown Wilson marks the second shooting outside a county courthouse that the Triangle region has seen in recent months. In May, two attorneys were seriously injured outside the Wake County Courthouse in downtown Raleigh after a woman involved in their case retrieved a handgun in her car and opened fire on them.

Gwendolyn White, 57, faces two counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting.

Woodard described Monday’s shooting as an “isolated incident” and said Wilson’s courthouse is “very safe.”

“In incidents like this, how do you prevent them? You prevent them by making sure, one, we have a presence as we do in our courthouse,” Woodard said. “We make sure that none of that stuff that goes on outside comes inside.”

Wilson County District Attorney Jeffrey Marsigli said additional charges will likely follow for the shootings that occurred after Mustafa fled the courthouse.

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