Cary man sentenced to prison for shooting up Wake County Public Safety Center in 2020
A Cary man who fired at least 10 rounds at the Wake County Public Safety Justice Center in downtown Raleigh on a weekday afternoon in 2020 was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The sentencing of Willie Lee Hayes, Jr., 51, was announced by U.S. Attorney Michael Easley of the Eastern District of North Carolina in a news release Friday.
Hayes, previously convicted as a habitual felon in state court, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder, second-degree kidnapping, discharging a weapon into occupied property and possession of a firearm by a felon.
The brazen Oct. 6 shooting rattled about 15 bystanders outside and others who were inside the lobby, The News & Observer previously reported.
No one was injured by the gunfire, but one police officer’s leg was injured by flying debris in the shooting, the release said. It also damaged the building before the shooter’s vehicle.
The vehicle was owned and driven by a woman whom Hayes was convicted of kidnapping in the incident.
“Hayes was an armed and dangerous felon with lengthy criminal history who put law enforcement and the public at risk,” Easley said in a news release. “Let today’s 15-year sentence stand as a warning. Our office is prioritizing the prosecution of repeat felons driving gun violence in our communities.”
The county building that was damaged contains the detention center, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Fire/Rescue, the City-County Bureau of Identification and the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.
A daytime shooting
The 9mm pistol used in the incident belonged to the woman, who told authorities that it went missing and that she later saw Hayes had taken it.
He used the firearm to threaten to kill her if she did not drive Hayes to the downtown Raleigh building as he asked, according to information presented in court.
On the day of the shooting, a white Dodge Journey stopped in front of the Public Safety Center about 3 p.m., according to the news release. Hayes got out of the passenger side of the car and pulled out a handgun. He started shooting at the front door.
Hayes demanded that the woman drive away after the shooting and not to stop until they were back home, where they both lived.
A witness at the scene provided authorities with a license plate number for the vehicle, and officers were able to find the woman and stop her shortly after she left Hayes at the house.
She had just dropped him off at the house when officers stopped her car.
“It is a miracle that none of the bullets fired by Mr. Hayes directly struck any of the numerous people in the vicinity,” Sheriff Willie L. Rowe said in a statement.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Hayes at his Rose Street residence in Cary and were later able to locate the firearm used in the shooting through a search warrant.
Hayes’ criminal record included multiple felony convictions for drug-related crimes, assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon at the time of shooting.
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