LINCOLNTON, N.C. — A woman who was shot at a park in Lincolnton last week made a call for help that likely saved her life.
A domestic violence expert told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon that the woman did everything right in this situation before the man, identified as James Thompson Jr., shot her in the parking lot at Betty G. Ross Park.
A 911 call obtained by Lemon this week reveals that the woman secretly called for help and resisted Thompson’s demands until that help arrived.
In the call Sunday afternoon, you only hear the woman say one thing to the 911 dispatcher: the name of the park where she needed help.
She was sitting in a car in the parking lot and made sure the dispatcher knew that Thompson had a gun.
“No, I’m not driving you nowhere after you pointed that thing about four ... times acting like you are going to shoot me,” the victim can be heard saying in the 911 call.
Help arrives about five minutes into the call. One witness at the pool nearby said she saw a Lincolnton Police Department officer grab his rifle and take cover behind his SUV.
The 911 call reveals a voice from a distance, and the victim tells Thompson to answer that person’s question.
“What’s going on?” someone can be heard saying in the background of the 911 call.
“Tell him what’s going on,” the victim told Thompson.
Thompson seemed surprised. The woman told him what he did was wrong, and she wanted it reported. Lincolnton Police say Thompson then shot her in the neck, and the officer called to him.
“You better stop playing around,” the officer can be heard saying.
“I ain’t playing around, I shot her,” Thompson says.
One witness said the officer drove closer.
“Let me see your hands right now, get out of the damn vehicle,” the officer tells Thompson.
“I’m crippled, I can’t,” Thompson says.
“Drop the gun,” the officer says in response.
A minute later, there are six gunshots. We can’t tell who fired at that time.
Lincolnton police said medics took the woman to the hospital. Thompson died by police gunfire.
Bea Cote is founder and executive director of Impact Abuse Prevention Services, and she said the victim did what she was supposed to do.
“It sounds like she did everything that we would normally advise people to do,” Cote said.
Thompson had no documented history of domestic violence before the shooting. Cote said it’s important to get help the moment you feel you unsafe.
“They can get help, even if it hasn’t been physical or criminal,” Cote said.
At last check, the woman was still in recovery.
Cote believes getting police may be the reason she survived. Her family feels the same.
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