RALEIGH -- An apparent supporter of three people arrested on charges of vandalizing the North Carolina Republican headquarters Friday attacked two cameramen as they followed him out of the Wake County Public Safety Center Monday afternoon.
The unidentified young man shielded his face from the cameras as he left the first appearance hearing for David Reuben Hensley, Melissa Lynn Brown and Vanessa Marie Zuloaga, where he had tried to communicate with them from his front row seat in the courtroom. He smashed the cameras to the floor and ran.
Hensley, 20, Brown, 18, and Zuloaga, 24, were arrested after they were detained by residents in the Cameron Village area after a group of about 100 demonstrators smashed windows, spray painted vulgar slogans and apparently tried to torch the GOP headquarters at 1506 Hillsborough St.
Wake County District Court Judge Robert Rader officially informed each of the defendants of the charge they are facing -- felony malicious damaging by use of an incendiary device -- and asked each if they wanted to represent themselves, want a court appointed attorney or already have an attorney.
When each of the defendants was brought forward, the man in the audience, who wore a torn but mended black T-shirt and had dark hair with the ends dyed a reddish blond, tried to signal to them, apparently trying to communicate that each should request a court appointed attorney.
Hensley looked at him and took the cue. Brown did not respond to the man's coughing and tapping but requested a court appointed attorney also. Zuloaga engaged Rader in a conversation about whether she would qualify for pro bono legal help, ignored the noise from the audience and waived her right to an attorney.
At that point the man in the audience grabbed his head.
After the incident outside the building, Rick Poplin, an investigator for the Wake County District Attorney's Office approached the two cameramen and said that Wake Sheriffs deputies obtained the man's name on his way into the courthouse and gave it to the Raleigh Police Department. Two Raleigh officers then approached the cameramen to take a report.
Staff writer Oren Dorell can be reached at 829-8963 or at odorell@newsobserver.com.