A North Carolina realtor has been charged with gunning down three people, including an elderly couple whose son held him at gunpoint until police could arrive.
Pitt County Sheriff Paula Dance said that investigators found dozens of weapons and ammunition in the van that David Lever drove to one of several crime scenes as well as his home.
Dance said that Lever’s neighbor, 64-year-old Enrique Reyes, was the first to die in Lever’s crime spree, apparently gunned down in his driveway shortly before 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Reyes was seen making a purchase at a nearby grocery story at 1:20 p.m., and Lever was seen driving away from his home at 1:28 p.m., arriving at a local gas station 13 minutes later.
At the gas station, Lever put gas in his van and then fired shots from the window as he drove away. Deputies were called to that scene minutes later.
From that scene Lever drove to another neighborhood, where he tried to make contact with the residents of a home. By the time they got to the door, however, he was backing out of the driveway.
“The residents got a look at the suspect, and they did not recognize him,” Dance said.
Just before 2:30 p.m., the sheriff’s office got a call from a man who said that Lever had just killed his parents, and he was holding him at gunpoint until deputies could arrive. Deputies arrived to find Anthony and Paula Gribble, 80 and 76, dead from multiple gunshot wounds and took Lever into custody without incident.
After Lever’s arrest and while deputies were at his home, they received a call from a passerby who had seen Reyes’ body in his driveway.
Dance said investigators have not uncovered a connection between Reyes and Lever other than their being neighbors. WITN reported that Lever was the Gribbles’ realtor when they bought their home in 2014.
The sheriff said deputies were also called for a breaking and entering nearby, which turned out to be shots fired into an unoccupied residence. She said that Lever is the suspect in that case as well.
Lever appeared in court on three murder charges Monday morning and called the judge a m*********** as he was led out of the courtroom.
He was ordered held without bond and given a next court date of January 29. Other charges may be filed in conjunction with the district attorney’s office.
