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Background: News footage of the scene in Wake Forest, N.C. where Ericka Lucas was shot on Aug. 29 (WRAL). Inset (left): Dexter Lamont Mills (Wake County Sheriff”s Office). Inset (right): Ericka Lucas in a 2014 interview while she was principal of Rolesville High School (WTVD).
A North Carolina woman who was a beloved educator in her community died after she was shot late last month. Now two teenagers have been charged with murder.
Ericka Ruffin Lucas, 56, was a beloved former principal of Rolesville High School and the wife of Wake Forest High School’s popular football coach. On Aug. 29, Wake Forest Police said gunfire broke out in her neighborhood, and Lucas was allegedly caught in the crossfire. On Tuesday, she succumbed to her injuries, leaving a community grieving — and two teenage suspects behind bars.
According to the Wake Forest Police Department, officers responded to reports of a shooting shortly after 6 p.m. on Aug. 29. When they arrived at a home on East Nelson Avenue, they found Lucas with life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Upon further investigation, police said that a 16-year-old suspect was arrested on Aug. 30 in connection with the shooting. Police stated that Lucas “was not the intended target,” and that she was “struck by gunfire intended for someone else in the area.”
After Lucas died, police announced the arrest of 18-year-old Dexter Lamont Mills Jr. Both suspects were charged with murder. Mills is currently in custody at the Wake County Jail where he is being held on no bond. He was also charged with possession of a stolen firearm. Mills is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Wednesday.
Information was not made available for the juvenile suspect. The younger suspect was previously charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury.
A former student who had Lucas as a principal told local NBC affiliate WRAL, “It was really hard being in Wake Forest as a little Black girl, and she really made me feel comfortable, and she made me feel like like I was okay, like I was safe. I guess she was really good. She was really good at making someone feel like they were important.”
According to local news outlet The News & Observer, Lucas left her position at Rolesville High School in 2016 after she oversaw the school’s first full class graduate. The school opened in 2013 after East Wake High School underwent a reorganization.
