Neighbors aren't surprised by fatal shooting

Neighbors aren't surprised by fatal shooting (Added: July 29, 2010)

GREENE COUNTY, NC - Neighbors say they're surprised it took so long for someone to be killed. They face the reality that a gunman took the life of an officer before killing himself. (more)

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By: Shantel Middleton | WNCT
Published: July 29, 2010
Updated: July 29, 2010 - 6:44 PM

The shocking murder of Greene County Sheriff's Deputy Jon Willis isn't a shock for them, especially after finding out that the gunman is a man who they say terrorized their neighborhood.
"He did have a drinking problem. He was troubled. He was a troubled youth," said Vice President of Brooke Meadows Community Association Francis Taylor.
Taylor is a friend of the gunman's mother.
She says,"He had the problem that he couldn't drink. When he drank, he got out of hand."
On the night of the murder suicide it seems he had been drinking again. It comes as no surprise to neighbors who say their cries for help went unheard.
Neighbor Kim Thorpe said, "Whenever he gets drunk or high he always shoots the gun, and the cops have been called several times."
She says officers who responded found their hands tied when Meyers said he fired the gun from his own property. Greene County laws allow that. With no way to prove he fired the weapon off of the property where he lived, officers had to let him go.
"There was no sense in calling the police because all they were gonna' say was that he was in his own yard."
Meyers mother tried to get help for him, but her attempts failed.
"She had told him to get rid of the weapon. She had no idea that he still had a weapon. She was devastated," said Taylor.
Still neighbors who once feared him say they aren't sad to see him go. There is still no word on who, if anyone, the gun was registered.