Charles Gilbert Green, Wilmington Funeral Home Shooting, North Carolina 2023

A man identified as the trigger man in a Wilmington funeral home shooting has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for drug and gun charges.

Charles Gilbert Green, 29, of Leland, was sentenced to 232 months in federal prison on September 12, 2023, for two counts of distribution of cocaine base (crack) and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon.

The shooting occurred on April 2, 2022, at approximately 1:30 p.m. near the intersection of 6th and Red Cross Streets. Officers with the Wilmington Police Department were dispatched to the area after receiving a ShotSpotter alert and multiple 911 calls about shots fired.

One person was injured in the shooting and was transported to the hospital for treatment. During the investigation, officers located almost a dozen fired shell casings and reviewed security camera footage that showed Green firing multiple shots from the southeast corner of Red Cross Street towards a group of individuals standing near the funeral home.

Green, a convicted felon, was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition at the time of the shooting. He has prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, common law robbery, assault inflicting serious injury, resisting a public officer, and possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana.

Green was identified as the shooter after members of the Brunswick County Vice and Narcotics Unit received information that a man known as ‘CJ’ was distributing narcotics in Leland. Law enforcement was able to utilize a confidential informant to conduct controlled purchases of cocaine base (crack) from Green.

U.S. Attorney Michael Easley made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II. The FBI’s Coastal Carolina Safe Streets’ Gang Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Brunswick County Vice and Narcotics Unit, the Wilmington Police Department, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, and the Wilmington Police Department’s Gun Crime Task Force investigated the case.

Green’s sentence is a result of his guilty plea to two counts of distribution of cocaine base (crack) and possession of ammunition by a convicted felon. He will serve 232 months in federal prison.

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