Sheriff: Worker shot, wounded 2 at N Carolina plant

TAR HEEL, N.C. – A gunman was captured after opening fire in a North Carolina hog processing plant early Thursday, seriously wounding two co-workers, a sheriff said.

Bladen County Sheriff Jim McVicker told WRAL-TV that the suspect is in custody after attacking the two employees in a stairwell at The Smithfield Packing Company plant in Tar Heel.

A sheriff’s statement says deputies responding to the active shooter report captured the gunman, who ran from the meatpacking plant into a nearby wooded area.

The wounded man and woman were airlifted to hospitals. Their conditions were weren’t immediately reported.

The sheriff told WWAY-TV that 20-year-old Jaquante Hakeem Williams of St. Pauls was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and is being held in the Bladen County Jail.

McVicker said Williams had worked at the plant for about a year.

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Information from: WRAL-TV, http://www.wral.com