# North Carolina Trooper Shot Several Times



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

_The Associated Press via Knight Ridder_

A state Highway Patrol trooper was shot several times Monday morning when he stopped a vehicle on Interstate 95 in Cumberland County, authorities said. Two suspects were arrested in the shooting.

Trooper J.C. Horniak, 30, was in critical condition at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, Lt. Everett Clendenin said.

He was shot a total of three or four times in the leg, abdomen and shoulder during the stop about 10:15 a.m. within the city limits of Fayetteville, Clendenin said. He didn't fire his own weapon.

Horniak, a nearly six-year veteran of the patrol, was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, Clendenin said.

Cumberland County sheriff's deputies said they arrested Marvin Bell Johnson, 40, of Richmond, Va., and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill, attempted murder and assault on a government official.

A woman with Johnson, Nichelle Steel, 21, of Gardin, was also being questioned in the shooting.

Horniak, who is married, joined the Highway Patrol in January 2000 and was stationed in Cumberland County.

The suspects were caught when a witness to the shooting followed them to a motel and called the Cumberland County sheriff to report the location, spokeswoman Debbie Tanna said. Deputies knocked on the motel room door and pulled the man to the ground when he opened it. The woman was inside the room, she said.

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