Harvey Glenn McLeod and the 1972 North Hills Mall Shooting
Overview
On Memorial Day, May 29, 1972, Harvey Glenn McLeod carried out a sudden and apparently indiscriminate shooting outside North Hills Mall in Raleigh, North Carolina. McLeod, a 22-year-old Raleigh resident, positioned himself between parked automobiles near the shopping center’s main entrance and opened fire with a .22-caliber semiautomatic rifle. Four victims ultimately died, seven others survived gunshot wounds, and McLeod killed himself before police could arrest him.
The attack occurred shortly after noon, when the mall and its surrounding parking areas were crowded with holiday shoppers. Several people were gathered near the entrance for an appearance by United States Senator B. Everett Jordan, who was campaigning for reelection. Jordan was initially suspected of being McLeod’s intended target, particularly because members of the senator’s campaign party were among those struck. Investigators, however, found no evidence that McLeod had targeted the senator or that the shooting was politically motivated.
McLeod’s Background and Activities Before the Shooting
Harvey Glenn McLeod was born on December 29, 1949, and lived with his wife on Curtis Drive in Raleigh. He was approximately six feet five inches tall and had recently obtained work as a janitor at Needham B. Broughton High School. Accounts published after the shooting described a troubled young man who had experienced employment difficulties and previous contact with law enforcement.
Two days before the massacre, on Saturday, May 27, 1972, McLeod was arrested after allegedly making a false report to police. He claimed that armed men had robbed him and taken his automobile, but investigators concluded that his story was untrue. The precise importance of that incident to his later actions remains unknown.
On the morning of May 29, McLeod purchased the .22-caliber rifle he would use in the attack. There was no known confrontation at the mall immediately before the shooting, and surviving evidence does not establish that he knew the people he attacked. His victims represented a cross-section of ordinary shoppers, employees, motorists and political campaign workers who happened to be near the entrance when he began firing.
The Shooting at North Hills Mall
At approximately 12:05 p.m., McLeod crouched or concealed himself between two parked cars about 50 feet from the mall’s main entrance. He was reportedly dressed in a suit, making his actions initially difficult for bystanders to understand. He suddenly raised the rifle and began firing toward people standing, sitting and walking near the entrance.
Witnesses described McLeod repeatedly rising from behind the parked vehicles, selecting a direction and firing before lowering himself again. He discharged approximately 14 rounds during an attack lasting only a few minutes. He reportedly reloaded the rifle twice, demonstrating that the shooting was not a single impulsive discharge but a sustained assault on people in the parking area.
Some victims were seated on benches outside the mall. Others were standing at the curb, walking toward the doors or riding in passing automobiles. Panic spread as shoppers heard the shots and saw people falling. Those who understood what was happening ran into stores, hid behind vehicles or dropped to the pavement. Mall employees pulled customers away from windows and attempted to move them deeper into the building.
Jacquelyn “Jackie” Wharton had reportedly greeted Senator Jordan only moments before she was shot in the neck. Melvin DeRee Harrison Jr. was driving past the entrance toward Ivey’s department store when a bullet struck him. James Godfrey Henry had come to the mall with members of his family to purchase a slide rule for his work. Jessie Burford West, an elderly shopper, was struck near the entrance and initially survived but died several days later.
Senator Jordan escaped injury, but his press secretary, Wes Hayden, was critically wounded. Other victims included the wife of a North Carolina assistant attorney general and people whose ages ranged from a small child to elderly shoppers. Contemporary reports initially counted three people dead and eight wounded. When Jessie West died on June 3, the final toll became four murdered victims and seven surviving wounded victims.
Victims Killed
- Melvin DeRee Harrison Jr., 23 — Shot and killed on May 29, 1972, outside the main entrance of North Hills Mall in Raleigh. Harrison was reportedly driving through the parking area toward Ivey’s department store when he was struck by McLeod’s gunfire.
- James Godfrey Henry, approximately 30 or 31 — Shot and killed on May 29, 1972, at North Hills Mall. Henry was a knitting-mill mechanic who lived in nearby Cary and had gone to the shopping center with his family to buy a slide rule for his work.
- Jacquelyn D. “Jackie” Wharton, 47 — Shot and killed on May 29, 1972, near the mall’s main entrance. She had reportedly spoken with or greeted Senator B. Everett Jordan shortly before McLeod opened fire.
- Jessie Burford West, 80 — Shot near the entrance of North Hills Mall on May 29, 1972. West survived the initial attack but died from her injuries on June 3, 1972, five days after the shooting.
The Wounded
Eight people were initially listed as wounded, although the number of surviving injured victims fell to seven after Jessie West died. Among the most prominently identified survivors was Wes Hayden, Senator Jordan’s press secretary, who suffered critical injuries. Mrs. Ralph Moody, the wife of a North Carolina assistant attorney general, was struck in the face. Contemporary photographs showed her lying on the pavement while receiving emergency assistance.
The wounded ranged in age from approximately three to 77 years old. Their injuries varied from relatively minor wounds to life-threatening trauma. Rescue workers transported victims to Rex Hospital and Wake Memorial Hospital. The sudden number of casualties placed intense pressure on responding police officers, firefighters, ambulance personnel and hospital workers.
McLeod’s Suicide
The first police officers were already approaching the mall while the shooting was still underway. As the sound of sirens grew closer, McLeod apparently realized that he would soon be surrounded. Instead of surrendering, he placed the barrel of the rifle into his mouth and fired, killing himself in the parking lot.
Officers arrived to find victims scattered near the entrance and McLeod’s body lying between the vehicles he had used for concealment. Investigators recovered the rifle and ammunition beside him. Because McLeod died at the scene, authorities were unable to question him, and there was no criminal trial that might have produced testimony about his intentions.
Investigation and Possible Motive
The presence of Senator Jordan immediately led to speculation that the massacre had been an assassination attempt. Jordan had been meeting voters at the mall, and his press secretary was among the wounded. Investigators examined whether McLeod had political grievances or had deliberately chosen the location because of the senator’s appearance.
Authorities eventually determined that there was no convincing evidence that Jordan had been McLeod’s intended target. McLeod had no known connection to the senator, the campaign staff or the people he killed. The pattern of gunfire suggested that he fired at whoever happened to be visible near the entrance rather than concentrating on one identifiable person.
No definitive motive was established. Reports concerning McLeod’s personal difficulties, unstable behavior and recent arrest offered possible indications that he was in emotional distress, but they did not explain why he selected the mall or decided to murder strangers. His suicide ensured that many of the most important questions surrounding the massacre would remain unanswered.
Emergency Response and Community Reaction
The scene outside North Hills Mall quickly filled with police officers, rescue workers, journalists and frightened relatives searching for information. Emergency personnel treated victims on the pavement before transporting them to hospitals. News photographs showed abandoned belongings, blood near the entrance and investigators examining McLeod’s rifle beside his body.
The attack shocked Raleigh because North Hills was regarded as a modern, prosperous and safe shopping destination. The mall had opened in 1960 and had become one of the city’s most recognizable commercial centers. A mass shooting in such a public setting was extremely unusual in 1972, and many residents struggled to comprehend how an ordinary holiday shopping trip had become a scene of random death.
Newspapers devoted extensive coverage to the massacre during the following week. Early reports stated that three victims had died, while later coverage added Jessie West to the death toll after she succumbed to her wounds. The victims’ funerals and the condition of the wounded kept the tragedy before the public long after the parking lot reopened.
Legacy
The May 29, 1972, shooting is remembered as one of the earliest major shopping-center mass shootings in North Carolina. It occurred decades before active-shooter training, coordinated mass-casualty plans and modern public-warning systems became common. Those present had little understanding of how to respond when a concealed gunman began firing into a crowd.
The original North Hills Mall was eventually demolished and replaced by a large mixed-use development, but the transformation of the property did not erase the history of what happened there. For surviving victims, witnesses and the relatives of those killed, Memorial Day became permanently associated with the sudden violence outside the mall entrance.
Harvey Glenn McLeod’s attack lasted only a few minutes, yet it ended four innocent lives, wounded seven survivors and traumatized an entire community. Melvin Harrison, James Henry, Jacquelyn Wharton and Jessie West had no known relationship with their killer. They were selected only because they happened to cross his line of fire, making the massacre an especially disturbing example of random public violence.
