A dispute over about $4,000 worth of landscaping equipment is believed to have led to a fatal shooting Friday afternoon in Monkey Junction that left three dead – including an unborn child.
Authorities say 62-year-old Richard Albert Nielsen went to the Murphy USA gas station on Carolina Beach Road adjacent to the Wal-Mart just before 4 p.m. and shot 38-year-old Russell Allen Mitchell once in the head while he stood at the station’s outside counter. New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon said Nielsen then turned and walked up to a vehicle that had a 29-year-old woman, her 6-year-old boy and Mitchell’s two girls, ages 9 and 7, inside. Nielsen shot the woman once in the head and abdomen, then walked a few more yards and shot himself behind his vehicle, McMahon said.
The woman, who was about four months pregnant, survived but is hospitalized in critical condition at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. “Tragically, her unborn baby is dead,” McMahon said.
Both Nielsen and his victim, Mitchell, were pronounced dead at the scene.
At a Saturday press conference New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David and McMahon released new details about the shooting, which David described as a premeditated and targeted act.
“Eyewitness accounts leave no question that this defendant was the sole actor in this case,” David said.
McMahon said the handgun used in the murder-suicide was legally purchased by Nielsen at a local gun shop about an hour before the incident.
“This was an intentional, premeditated, targeted and deliberate act. And I want to stress…that while there are many crimes occurring at the moment in New Hanover County, this is not a random act of violence and we have no reason to suspect that anyone is in further danger because of this,” David said.
Though the investigation is ongoing, David said the murder-suicide was not an act of domestic violence, but more likely a dispute over property in a “failed business relationship” between Nielsen, Mitchell and the woman.
“Mr. Nielsen was contacted about some property which he had ultimately sold off…and the New Hanover Sheriff’s Office advised him to return that property,” David said. “And because he couldn’t, he knew that he faced potential criminal responsibility. It was at that point that we know he reached out to family in the early hours of February 6 and indicated that…he would not be going to jail.”
The disputed property, which the pregnant woman shot Friday had reported to the sheriff’s office on Thursday, consisted of landscaping equipment and a generator, according to an incident report provided by the sheriff’s office. The approximate value of the property was $4,000.
Since just 24 hours had passed since the shooting, David said the “why” of the investigation is ongoing and will continue over the next few days. The district attorney noted Nielsen had no criminal record prior to the shooting.
“It was not the mercy of this defendant but the skill of surgeons that have prevented us from calling yet a third murder,” David said. “We’re hopeful that [the surviving victim] is going to make some form of recovery. And we would ask for the community to pray for that as well.”
Christina Haley is a crime and courts reporter for Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6337 or christina.h@portcitydaily.com.
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