Raleigh police provide update on lawyers shot at Wake County courthouse
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Two Raleigh attorneys shot outside a Wake County courthouse are expected to survive.
- Gwendolyn White, 57, allegedly retrieved a handgun from her car before shooting the two.
- White remained jailed without bail and was expected to appear in court Tuesday.
The two attorneys shot outside the Wake County courthouse Friday are expected to survive their injuries, Raleigh police said Sunday.
Mary Katherine Harris and Jeffrey Whitley, both lawyers at the Raleigh office of national firm Fox Rothschild, were injured about 10:30 a.m. Friday when Gwendolyn White, 57, allegedly retrieved a handgun from her car and opened fire on them, The News & Observer previously reported.
Police have not said whether either lawyer has been released from the hospital.
Harris and Whitley were representing the Rolesville Police Department in White’s civil suit requesting body camera footage from a March 2021 incident at her home, court records show. Despite receiving the body camera footage, White was trying to reopen the case, according to court documents.
Police haven’t commented on White’s alleged motive, but her social media posts and court filings indicate she believed the Rolesville Police Department was part of a racist conspiracy to kill her and her 90-year-old mother, who died at a nursing home last year.
Court records indicate White had a lengthy history of filing lawsuits against people and businesses she believed had wronged her, dating back to at least 1997.
Harris, a 2019 graduate of North Carolina State University, received her law degree from Campbell University in 2022, The N&O previously reported. She’s twice been named a “Rising Star” in civil litigation by North Carolina Super Lawyers.
Whitley graduated from Florida State University in 2002 and earned a law degree from Duke in 2013, The N&O reported. He, too, has been named a civil litigation “Rising Star” on several occasions.
White remained jailed without bail as of Sunday afternoon. She’s expected to appear in court Tuesday morning.
This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Raleigh police provide update on lawyers shot at Wake County courthouse."
