Woman accused of shooting attorneys at Raleigh courthouse has history of lawsuits
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- Gwendolyn White, 57, is charged with two counts of attempted murder.
- From 1997 through Friday, White filed at least 15 unsuccessful Wake County suits.
- She was also ordered to undergo mental health treatment in a stalking case in 2023.
A Raleigh woman accused of opening fire on two attorneys outside a downtown courthouse Friday has a lengthy history of filing lawsuits against people and businesses, court records show.
Gwendolyn White, 57, is charged with two counts of attempted murder after she allegedly shot two attorneys representing the Rolesville Police Department in a civil suit she filed.
The suit was tied to White’s request for body camera footage from a March 2021 incident at her home, court documents state. Though the police department provided White with the available footage, which she requested more than a year later, White had asked for the department to be held in contempt and appealed a judge’s decision to dismiss the suit.
Friday morning’s hearing was meant to address White’s request for a new trial, court records show. It’s not clear what happened during the hearing, but Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce said in a brief news conference that White became “belligerent” and was kicked out of the courtroom.
Police haven’t said how much time passed between White’s removal and the shooting, but Boyce said she returned to her car, retrieved a handgun, and shot the two attorneys as they left the Wake County Courthouse.
But Friday’s incident wasn’t White’s first brush with the law.
More than a dozen lawsuits
Court records show from 1997 to Friday, White has filed at least 15 lawsuits in Wake County.
The complaints began with a June 1997 medical malpractice suit against Rex Hospital and a medical provider, court documents indicate. Besides the Rolesville Police Department case, White most recently sued a Baptist church and a parishioner she claimed had stolen kitchen items from her; a judge dismissed the complaint in January.
White has never won any of her suits, court records indicate.
She’s filed so many complaints that Judge Margaret Eagles entered a gatekeeper order against her in December 2023, according to court documents. That order bars White from filing civil or criminal complaints in Wake County unless an attorney signs off or she pays a $500 bond guaranteeing she has the funds to cover defendants’ court costs if she loses.
Stalking charge and mental health
One of White’s legal battles involved a misdemeanor stalking charge in 2023, when she was accused of stalking her neighbor and the neighbor’s family, according to court documents. The News & Observer couldn’t find the case in an online search Friday, but a court memorandum from White’s mother’s guardian ad litem indicates White was found incapable to proceed at one point.
“[A] Court Order was entered on May 3, 2024, finding Gwen was not capable of proceeding to trial and the Court ordered Gwen to participate in the Community Based Restoration Program at Elwyn Health Resources for examination and treatment until further order of the Court,” the guardian ad litem wrote.
But when the guardian ad litem asked White about that incident, she allegedly claimed her son had lied about her mental health and that false information had been entered on her medical record, according to court documents.
It’s not clear how the stalking case was ultimately resolved, but White’s behavior during that timeframe also led to her being trespassed from Duke Raleigh Hospital while her mother was a patient, according to court documents.
“As a result, Gwen was not allowed to visit [her mother] in person while she remained in the hospital,” her mother’s guardian wrote.
White’s mother received a permanent guardian to represent her after a judge found White could not be entrusted with her care, according to court documents. Several nursing homes refused to take her mother as a patient because of White’s alleged actions, and White’s mother’s guardian eventually required her visits be supervised after White allegedly tried to remove her mother from the nursing home and displayed “disruptive behavior.”
White, meanwhile, alleged Duke Raleigh staff and her mother’s other medical providers weren’t providing proper care, according to court documents.
Her mother had been diagnosed with vascular dementia and arterial stenosis, meaning she didn’t get proper bloodflow to her legs and was at higher risk for bed sores. But White alleged on social media that the bed sores were wounds from acid attacks. She later claimed her mother was “murdered” by the state, though court documents indicate the nonagenarian’s doctors had recommended hospice care for her conditions and recurring infections, something White apparently disagreed with.
White’s mother died in May 2025, triggering a slew of social media posts from White about the conspiracy she believed led to her mother’s death. That continued until the morning of the Friday shooting when White made one final post on Facebook.
“Back in Wake County Court at 10am,” she wrote.
Three hours later, she was placed in handcuffs.
This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 6:30 AM with the headline "Woman accused of shooting attorneys at Raleigh courthouse has history of lawsuits."
