On Sunday mornings in Mayberry, Andy and Barney would close down the courthouse and head to church with Aunt Bea, Opie, Gomer and even an occasional prisoner.
Carthage is a lot like Mayberry. Sure, times have changed...but Carthage is still a quiet little place. So quiet in fact that only one police officer is on duty on any given Sunday morning. Justin Garner was that officer on March 29th.
Sunday mornings are usually slow in Carthage. Folks that aren't in church are either asleep or quietly working around the house. No one would have ever suspected that an armed gunman had gone into Pinelake Rehab looking for his estranged wife and shooting anyone that he came in contact with.
Justin Garner answered the call. Some may call him foolish for entering the nursing home without backup. There is no doubt that he put his own life at risk--he has three wounds to prove that.
Robert Stewart had already shot and killed seven elderly patients and one employee when he was confronted by Corporal Garner. Although he was drawing fire from the gunman, Garner held his ground and returned fire, critically wounding Stewart and bringing the carnage to an end.
I believe that Robert Stewart was prepared to kill every person inside the nursing facility that day. Eight dead is too many...but the heroic actions of Justin Garner saved everyone else there.
Corporal Justin Garner of the Carthage Police Department is a hero in every right.
Thank you, Justin, for giving your life in service for the people of Carthage.
Chaplain Ralph
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March 31, 2009
CARTHAGE, N.C. (AP) — Justin Garner turned down a chance to join the state highway patrol so he could stay on his small hometown’s police force. In just five years, he’d already been named Officer of the Year. And when a call came in that a gunman was shooting up a nursing home, Garner was the only one on duty when seemingly everyone else in this town of 1,800 was at church.
The clean-cut outdoorsman with a passion for hunting and fishing raced to the Pinelake Health and Rehab Center. Armed with a .40-caliber Glock pistol, he entered the building to confront Robert Stewart, 45, in the hallway. Garner fired his weapon once, hitting Stewart in the chest, even though Garner had already been shot three times in his foot and leg.A day later, Garner was being praised as a hero in this small town in North Carolina’s Sandhills region, about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh, for forging into the nursing home without waiting for backup to stop a man authorities say shot and killed eight people — many of them elderly and frail — inside.
“If that’s not heroism, I don’t know what is,” said Police Chief Chris McKenzie, who later added: “You can train all you want to, but it comes down to whether you have what it takes.”
Experts also took note. Nick Minzghor, whose business trains police and military personnel in Seattle, said a quick response to mass shootings is crucial, but that it’s not common for an officer by himself to be successful.
“This is one of the few instances nationwide where the lone officer took care of the bad guy,” said Minzghor, who’s also a police officer.
Garner, 25, grew up in the Carthage area like most of the town’s 18-officer police force, said McKenzie, who’s also a native. Garner, who is married, has been on the force for less than five years but already has been honored as the town’s Officer of the Year.
At one point, though, Garner nearly joined the North Carolina Highway Patrol before ultimately deciding to stay in Carthage, said the Rev. Tom Herndon, the chaplain for the police and fire departments. Herndon, who also is pastor of First Baptist Church of Carthage, described Garner as “a real clean-cut, handsome young fellow” who is fair to the people he serves.
“He’s one of the individuals who will give you a break if you happen to be speeding one mile an hour over the speed limit,” Herndon said, adding that his wife once received a warning from Garner though he didn’t know who she was.
McKenzie said Garner hunts and fishes whenever he gets the chance, and that he’s not surprised the officer stayed close to home.
“You don’t find too many country boys heading to the city (to become police),” McKenzie said. “They stay here to take care of their own.”
Seven nursing home residents and one of their caretakers were killed and three others, including Garner, were wounded. Stewart was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.
McKenzie said Garner isn’t yet ready to speak publicly about the shootings. He was released from the hospital, but will need outpatient surgery, McKenzie said.
“He wants to sit at home with his family and rest. He almost died yesterday,” McKenzie said.
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