Local News

Raleigh man charged after allegedly firing pellet gun at children playing outside

A man is facing charges after he allegedly opened fire from his home with a pellet gun on a group of children who were outside playing Tuesday, according to court documents.

Posted Updated

By
Sloane Heffernan
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — A man is facing charges after he allegedly opened fire from his home with a pellet gun on a group of children who were outside playing Tuesday, according to court documents.

Raheem Burt, 24, of 309 Bledsoe Street in Raleigh, was being held Wednesday on a $250,000 bond at the Wake County Jail, where he has been charged with at least three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm within city limits, according to his arrest warrant.

Burt Raheem (Photo: Wake County Jail)

Burt was briefly engaged in a standoff with Raleigh police Tuesday when he refused to come outside the home before they fired tear gas inside his residence, forcing him out of the house.

Family members say mental health issues are to blame.  According to the family, a majority of the calls for service to Raleigh police were from Perry himself.

It was not not immediately clear what prompted the gunfire or if Burt knew the victims, which included a 10-year-old boy, 5-year-old boy, and an 8-year-old girl.

The mother of the children, who asked for anonymity, said she was at home when the gunfire began.

"I was just standing in the kitchen and I just happened to look outside and I see my kids running real fast to the house, hollering and screaming," she said. "And I come outside and I hear, 'pop, pop, pop.'"

She said none of the children were hurt during the gunfire.

Clinton Graves told WRAL News that the suspect has a history of threatening neighbors.

"He acted kind of strangely," he said.

Some neighbors told WRAL News that Burt, armed with a BB gun, has threatened to shoot drivers if they parked in front of his house or if anyone came on his porch.​

Related Topics

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.