Street of death - Gunman kills 2, wounds 2 others

Chapel Hill Herald, Jan. 27, 1995

By SUSAN BROILI and RAY GRONBERG

CHAPEL HILL -- Two people are dead and three wounded after a man opened fire on passers-by, vehicles and police at Thursday afternoon on Henderson Street.

The shootings appeared to be random, according to police officials.

...

The gunman allegedly began at Cobb Terrace, an extension of Henderson Street, and walked towards Franklin Street carrying a WWII-type, M-1 30-06 high-powered, semi-automatic rifle.

"I just happened to look out my window. There was nobody else on the street," said Cobb Terrace resident Joe Herzenberg, one of the first to call 911.

"He was carrying this rifle, and I was thinking, 'Is it illegal to carry a rifle on the street?' " Herzenberg said.

"And while I was thinking, he turned to the house next door and started firing on it. ... He was actually killing somebody."

The gunman shot and killed two people -- first Ralph Walker, who was standing on the front porch of a rooming house at 2 Cobb Terrace, and then, a man on a bicycle, who died in front of Phi Mu Sorority on Henderson Street, police officials and eyewitnesses said.