LUMBERTON, N.C. -- Two men's plan to rob a woman who gave them a ride Wednesday was thwarted when the would-be robbers fought over who would hold the gun, the Lumberton Police Department said.
The gun discharged twice inside Ravin Lee Singletary's car during the struggle, giving her the opportunity to escape, Capt. Terry Parker said.
No one was injured.
About 1:50 p.m., Singletary, 46, of Lumberton, was just inside the city limits on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, near Rogers Tire Service, when she saw two men walking.
"She stopped to give them a ride. She said she felt sorry for them," Parker said.
The men, identified as Frankie Elger Lowery, 19, and James Bernard Gilchrist, 44, got into Singletary's car, Parker said.
One of the men sat in the front passenger seat while other sat in the back.
One of the men -- Parker didn't know which one -- then produced a pistol with the intent to rob Singletary.
"One brandished the gun, then the other one decided he wanted to hold the gun, so they began fighting over the gun," Parker said.
Singletary used the argument to stop her car and get out, he said.
Two Robeson County Sheriff's Office deputies who happened by about that time came to her aid, Parker said.
Lowery, who lives on Bee Gee Road in Lumberton, and Gilchrist, who lives on N.C. 130 East in Fairmont, are charged with attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, shooting into occupied property and possessing a stolen firearm.
Bail was set at $90,000 for Lowery and $75,000 for Gilchrist.
Copyright 2013 - The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
