LUMBERTON — The man who shot and wounded Lumberton Master Police Officer Marcus Norton on Sunday morning has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Police Chief Mike McNeill.
Victor Ronald Spearman, 22, shot himself in the head while hiding in a trash receptacle behind a home on East Third Street on Sunday morning, McNeill said, and died about 4:30 p.m. at an undisclosed hospital. He was rushed to Southeastern Medical Center by ambulance and was then transferred to the hospital.
Norton is at home recovering from a wound to the back of his left leg.
According to McNeill, police knew that Spearman was inside the trash bin and spent “several hours … trying to get him to put his gun down. Our negotiators were talking to him.”
Norton and a second officer had seen a man believed to be Spearman trying to break into Haywood Auto Sales on East Second Street at about 4:30 a.m., McNeill said. Spearman ran to the yard of a East Third Street home when the officers approached.
“They chased him over to a yard and he hid himself in the yard,” McNeill said.
The officers spotted Spearman behind some bushes in the yard, shots were fired, and Norton was struck in the leg at about 5 a.m., McNeill said. Spearman then hid inside the trash bin.
That began the standoff that lasted several hours after police cordoned off a 10-block area.
According to Spearman’s Facebook page, the Duplin County native attended Lumberton High School and later moved to Rose Hill, where he worked at House of Raeford, a poultry processing plant. He moved back to Lumberton when things “went south” and he “started getting into trouble,” according to his page.
A post on Spearman’s page says that he recently broke up with his girlfriend. This morning, there were several posts on his page expressing remorse at Spearman’s death, calling him a classmate and friend who “is gone too soon.”
Spearman was on probation in Duplin County for charges of a DWI and speeding to elude arrest in 2010, according to the North Carolina Department of Corrections. Spearman had previously faced charges of forgery, vandalism, larceny, and breaking and entering.
McNeill said the investigation has been handed over to the State Bureau of Investigation, which is standard procedure when a police officer has been shot.
“He is in a lot of pain, but basically doing fine,” Heather Norton said Monday about her husband. “He didn’t have to have surgery. The doctors felt it was better to leave the bullet in rather than risk complications.”
Norton, who is 32, lives in Laurel Hill in Scotland County and has been employed with Lumberton Police Department for seven years.
“My first reaction when I heard was anger,” said Heather Norton. “How could you not be upset when you find out that your husband has been shot? But now all I feel is sadness. The person involved is dead and even he is someone’s child. So it is a sad situation for everyone involved.”
Heather Norton, who works as a registered nurse at Scotland Memorial Hospital, said Master Police Officer Jeremiah Goodson’s shooting death on July 17 had weighed on her and her husband.
“In the back of your mind there is always that kind of fear, but when it happens so close to home, you really start to think,” she said. “Officer Goodson and my husband are about the same age and it just forces you to realize that it can happen to anyone and at anytime.”
Goodson was shot and killed at a service station off Fayetteville Road while trying to arrest a person who was wanted on several charges. Goodson, who was struck four times, had been off-duty when he saw the person and tried to make the arrest.
District Attorney Johnson Britt has said he would seek the death penalty for Marques Ramon Brown, 27, who has been charged with first-degree murder.
Goodson is survived by his wife Lametria, and the couple’s a newborn son and a 2-year-old daughter, and a 16-year-old adopted son. There are multiple efforts to raise money to help the Goodson family.
Laurinburg Exchange Editor Scott Witten contributed to this story.
Now don't get angry with me when you see that an area with a high amount of minorities also has a high amount of crime. Just a fact.
We live in America. Give us your poor, your weak, your tired...you know that famous saying. America has been founded on the fact that we accept everyone no matter of creed or color. That is what has made us great. We have law enforcement and military dying everyday for those freedoms. They are not fighting for just the white man, just the Indian or the Asian. They are fighting for our way of life.
I'm saying that they way of life is going to the toliet. Why? You can't blame the black man, you can't blame the Natives. You can't really blame any one race. It's us as Americans that are failing. When things get tough, then people will do what it takes to survive. It's not always the best choice, but, it happens.
BTW, I have read the 2010 Census for Robeson County, NC and New Mexico, along with several other states. Have you?
THERE ARE MORE FACTS THAT YOU DONT KNOW ABOUT!!! I DONT CARE IF THEY BLACK OR WHITE!!!! ALL IM SAYING IS ALL THE FACTS HAVE NOT BEEN TOLD AND ITS NOT FAIR TO THE FAMILY!!!
If you would please post your name and address so all the Law Enforcement Officers can start sending you evidence because that has got to be the quickest turn around on ballistic evidence I have ever seen. This shooting just happened yesterday and according to you, they have already determined that the bullet in his face wasn't fired from his weapon. Let me find out we got a real life CSI Las Vegas in Robeson County. My biggest fear is that there are actually other Lumbertonians that believe your bull crap
I am Indian, but here's what I'm gonna do, I'm going to open a shirt shop and sell shirts and caps that read: WHITE PRIDE, WHITE POWER, "YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT, A WHITE MAN DID" etc... I'm tired of the racism coming from minorities all the time, it's time for folks(white) to speak up. Ross
You are obviously young and oblivious to the facts of the situation. Funny how you automatically yell for the NAACP. You can call the NAACP, The EBT, The ABC, or the 123. Its not going to change the facts of this case. THis young man made a choice to break into this buisness. It was also his choice to run from the police department, and to shoot at the Police Department. As unfortunate as it is, this man dies as a direct result of his own actions. Hinse the word Self Inflicted. Last time I chaecked, there were no members of the NAACP employed with the SBI or the District Attorneys Office. These are the only two organizations that matter in this investigation. Hats off to all the Law Enforcement Officers that were present yesterday. Wishing Marcus Norton a speedy recovery. also praying for the suspects family.