A young mother, 21 year old, Semantha
Bunce, was shot inside her home in east
Charlotte last Tuesday and remains at Carolinas
Medical Center with serious injuries caused by at
least two gunshot wounds.
Bunce was shot by intruders who kicked in the
front door to her home on Matlea Court
last Tuesday morning, police said.
Bunce was feeding the baby when the assailants
forced their way into the home. Bunce met the
intruders at her bedroom door and when the men
opened fire on her in the stairwell area, she fired
back, her husband said.
“I think it was a shock to the intruders just as
much as it was to her,” said Paul Bunce, her
husband.
Paul told Channel 9 his wife is a combat medic
with the National Guard. He believes her training
allowed her to stay mentally focused and calm
during what was a fight for her life.
“They've got a long journey,” said one neighbor
outside the Bunce family’s home.
Since the shooting, neighbors have embraced the
family. Many stopped by the house and offered
their thoughts and prayers for a mother who
risked it all to protect her own.
Family members said Semantha will need at
least one more surgery.
“The victim, she made it through surgery and
she seems to be doing alright,” Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Police Department Capt. Chuck
Henson said.
Henson said they've added extra patrols in the
neighborhood.
“It's a big shock to find something going on like
that just a few houses down,” said another
neighbor who did not want to be identified.
There have been three break-ins in the
neighborhood this year, but none of them led to
the kind of violence involved in Tuesday's
incident.
“This investigation is going full force ahead,”
Henson said. “They're working it very, very hard
and I'm very confident that we'll have an arrest
in it at some point.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have charged a
man in the home invasion and shooting of Bunce
in her Charlotte home.
CMPD charged Reco Latur Dawkins Jr., 23, with
attempted murder, felony breaking and entering
and conspiracy to commit felony breaking and
entering in the home invasion and shooting of
21-year-old Samantha Bunce last Tuesday.
Dawkins turned himself in to police on Saturday
morning. He was interviewed by detectives and
after the interview he was taken into custody.
His first court appearance is Tuesday.
A close friend of Bunce who visited her in the
hospital over the weekend said her recovery is
going well.
The day after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police
announced an arrest in the break-in and shooting
of a young mother at her home in northeast
Charlotte, neighbors said the community is still
on edge.
“We’re still freaking out about what happened,”
said a neighbor who did not want to be
identified.
He said he learned about the arrest of Dawkins
around noon Sunday.
A man who came to the door at the address he
gave court officials said he did not know where
Dawkins had been the week before.
Dawkins has two convictions for breaking and
entering, in 2009 and 2011.
Police are still looking for a second person in the
attack who has not yet been identified.
Bunce’s husband told Eyewitness News on
Monday that she has her ups and downs and is
still facing a long road to recovery.
After visiting her in the hospital Saturday, her
neighbor said he has no doubt she will make it.
“She's doing fantastic. She's a warrior. She's
still beat up but she'll make it out,” he said.
Source: Charlotte Local News
