The 18-year-old who was accused of shooting three people at Triangle Town Center in April will not serve prison time as long as he follows the terms of his two-year probation, The News & Observer has learned.
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Marcus Neal, of Raleigh, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, court records show. Five of the seven original charges will be dropped as part of the plea deal.
Neal was originally charged in May with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of discharging a firearm within Raleigh city limits and one count of carrying a concealed firearm, The N&O previously reported. Three other juveniles were charged with misdemeanor rioting and misdemeanor assault.
Neal has no prior criminal record and was at his place of work at the time of the incident, Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman wrote to The N&O in a Friday statement about the plea deal. He did not start the altercation that led to him using his weapon. Once he fired shots, he called 911 and stayed on the scene to report the incident.
Neal was sentenced to two consecutive terms of 15 to 30 months in prison, but those sentences were suspended, Freeman wrote. To avoid prison time, Neal must comply with these terms of his probation, court records show:
Neal was originally charged with injuring two juveniles and an employee at Triangle Town Center, The N&O reported. The N&O will not name the other employee, as he has not been charged with a crime.
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Police said in April that three juveniles confronted and assaulted the employee, The N&O reported. The employee produced a handgun, and shots were fired. At Neal’s first appearance in May, his then-defense attorney, John Fitzpatrick, said police told him Neal was trying to protect the employee, his friend.
But in protecting the employee, Neal may have unintentionally struck him and two teenagers, Fitzpatrick said.
Wake District Court Judge Mark Stevens presided over Neal’s first appearance. But some details Stevens mentioned at the May hearing — he asked why Neal left the scene and what bond was appropriate for someone who enters a mall on a Friday afternoon and shoots multiple people, The N&O reported — contradict the Wake District Attorney’s Friday statement.
Stevens denied Neal bail. Neal was eventually granted a $200,000 bail on July 6, which he posted the same day.
The shooting at Triangle Town Center was one of several high-profile violent incidents in Raleigh that month, prompting Raleigh Police Department Chief Rico Boyce to say the rash of violence was “not acceptable” and question the safety and future of the north Raleigh mall.
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