ROCKINGHAM — A Richmond County woman has teamed up with a civil rights activist to ask for additional charges to be filed against the man accused of shooting into her car.
After meeting with a detective with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, activist John C. Barnett held a press conference in front of the old courthouse Dec. 22 to announce that he and the reported victim, Tashika Trimble, were asking for Sidney Dillon Pittman to be charged with attempted murder.
“I can’t shoot at no white lady’s car in Richmond County and I not be in jail,” Barnett said.
“This mother and this son could have been shot and killed and …we could be at a funeral,” Barnett continued. “So we want attempted murder.”
And, Barnett said he wants the charges filed by Christmas.
Trimble said she was delivering packages for Amazon on Sunday, Dec. 14 with her son, Jonathan Leak, in the car. One of the addresses was on Jones Springs Church Road, northeast of Ellerbe and on the west side of the bypass.
“GPS directed me to an address and we turned into the driveway,” Trimble recalled, adding that she saw a woman sitting inside the home who looked at her before a man with a ponytail came to the door.
Trimble said she was about to get out of her car when her son told her not to, adding, “Look how they looking at you.”
According to Trimble, Leak waved and told the home’s occupants that they had a package to deliver and wanted to verify the address.
“They looked at each other, they looked at us,” Trimble said. She continued, saying she was about to get out to show them the package when her son told her to leave.
Trimble said she left the yard and eventually found the correct address down the street.
“We successfully delivered that package, no problem,” Trimble said.
The car then backed out of that driveway and onto the road.
“I asked my son, ‘What’s the next address,’ I put my car in drive … just about to move a little, we hear a shot, I hear little pricks hitting the car — I didn’t know where it was coming from,” Trimble said. “So … I grab my gun, I looked left to right and my son was like, ‘Mama, no. Just go.’ So, I left.”
According to the arrest warrant, Pittman fired a Mossberg 500A 12-gauge shotgun into the trunk and taillight of Trimble’s 2023 Dodge Challenger RT.
Barnett said that Leak told the detective that Pittman was standing in the road when he shot at the car.
Pittman was arrested the following day and charged with a single felony count of discharging a weapon into an occupied property and a misdemeanor count of injury to personal property.
He was jailed on a $200,000 secured bond and court records show he was released on bail Dec. 18.
Some in the community have compared the charges filed against Pittman with those recently filed against Xavier Antonio Dequan Wall, who is accused of shooting into a Hamlet home two years ago and was arrested Dec. 16.
Wall was charged with attempted first-degree murder in addition to discharging a weapon into an occupied property and several other offenses.
Trimble said she feels like there should be additional charges because there were two people in the car.
When asked how she felt about Pittman being out on bond and living several miles away, Trimble said she was “fearful.”
“I don’t know his whereabouts at night, I don’t know if he’s gonna ride by my house… I want him locked up,” Trimble said.
Trimble was also asked what she would tell Pittman if he were to offer an apology: “I’d tell him he could stick that up his ass … I don’t want it. He can keep it.”
Pittman’s next court date is scheduled for Jan. 8 and Barnett encouraged those in attendance to fill the courtroom.
Barnett also said he is going to attempt to contact the FBI to charge Pittman with a hate crime.
A purported message exchange between Pittman and someone else — obtained by Barnett — appears to show Pittman mocking the situation and making a racist comment:
Sender: Who waisted they hard earned money on you
Pittman: Lmfao
Sender: Your getting coal for Christmas
Pittman: I shot someone that’s coal colored (followed by a laughing emoji)
“It’s a hate crime if he’s using the word ‘colored’ and he’s shooting at black people in a car,” Barnett said.
When asked if Richmond County was racist, several of those gathered answered “Yes!”
Barnett brought up an incident from December 2019 when Stephen Sings Sr. was tazed multiple times by deputies at a Richmond Senior High School football game after his son was arrested for disorderly conduct. All of his charges were eventually dismissed.
Bryan Stanback, who ran as an unaffiliated candidate for county commissioner in 2022, said that those publicly supporting Trimble “could be putting their lives in danger.”
“To the point where people that support this individual (Pittman) could have so much hatred and malice in their hearts that they attempt to harm everybody that’s standing behind me right now,” Stanback said.
“This has been going on for decades, this ain’t nothing new to me,” Stanback continued. “We have to start supporting each other in these situations because tomorrow it could be you.”
Stanback said the county has turned a blind eye to racism for decades.
However, Stanback also issued a plea to the Black youth of the community.
“It’s time for you to put down the pistols against each other and start standing behind each other,” Stanback said. “What we’re doing is all wrong and we’re giving them the bullets to use against us — and we have to stop that … we have to be united against this evil.”
At the conclusion of the press conference, Barnett presented Leak with a Charlotte Hornets hoodie and tickets to Wednesday night’s game.
District Attorney Jamie Adams watched the rally and introduced herself to Trimble afterwards. She said at the event that she could not comment on the case.
However, later Monday evening, Adams posted a video to social media.
Referencing Pittman's alleged comments, Adams said, "No one in this county is a piece of coal."
Adams continued, saying that Barnett's words "invoked a lot of passion and anger."
"But I also heard ... the feelings, the sadness, the disappointment that this young mother and her son were experiencing as well," Adams said. "And when I heard that, I knew that they felt as though that the justice system has failed them.
"And that is challenging for any prosecutor to hear, and it should be challenging for anyone in our community to hear that someone feels disappointed in our system."
Adams went on to say that law enforcement is still in the process of completing the investigation and once complete it will be turned over to her for review.
"And so those feelings that those family members, the victims in this particular crime are feeling, you're justified in feeling the way that you feel," Adams said, adding that she has "to balance the safety of our community, the harm that has occured to the victims in this case and also the rights of the defendant."
"But just understand and know that when this matter comes before me, I'm going to make the right decision. I'm going to do the right thing."
