'I just killed my neighbor': 911 calls reveal more details in Kure Beach shooting

Minutes after he fired multiple shots at his neighbor earlier this month, 61-year-old William Henry Bennett called 911. 

"Yeah, I just killed my neighbor," he told the dispatcher. 

Police responded to Ocean View Avenue in Kure Beach shortly before 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, following reports of shots fired. Officers found 55-year-old John Allen Garisto dead with multiple gunshot wounds. 

While working to perform life-saving measures to the victim, police say they heard a single gunshot from the suspect's neighboring house. They found Bennett dead inside. 

On the streets outside more than a week later, the seaside of community of less than 3,000 residents remains shocked.

'I'm not going to prison'

In a 911 call at 2:48 p.m. on May 17, a caller identifies himself as the shooter and tells the dispatcher of the alleged events that transpired that afternoon. 

Bennett said earlier in the day, his neighbor was feeding "wild animals" near his property and he called animal control. Bennett said he left to go to the convenience store for beer and when he was coming back, he claimed his neighbor began using expletive words and gestures. 

"I'm sorry, I had enough," Bennett said on the call. 

From back inside his house, Bennett tells the dispatcher his neighbor is "probably dead" — he said he shot him five times in the middle section of his body using an assault rifle. 

"I'm military, so that's how I aim," he said.

Bennett said the weapon was in his home with him, but he was "not going to shoot anybody else."

"I'm 62 years old with absolutely no criminal record," he told the dispatcher. "I had enough of this guy."

The caller gives the dispatcher more information, including a physical description of himself. Then he hears officers approaching. 

"I hear the sirens," he said. "Not sure if I'm going to be taken alive or not, I don't know yet." 

Around 6 minutes into the call, Bennett tells the dispatcher he has the weapon in his hand. The dispatcher repeatedly tells Bennett not to hurt himself. 

"That's not what needs to happen," the dispatcher said. 

"I'm not going to prison," he said. 

Around seven and a half minutes into the call, Bennett stops responding to the dispatcher. According to a news release from the Kure Beach Police Department, officers heard one gunshot from inside the suspect's house. 

Several neighbors made calls to dispatchers

Four other 911 calls made to dispatchers in the minutes following a shooting on Ocean View Avenue in Kure Beach on May 17 paint a picture of panic among neighbors. 

Three calls are made seconds apart at 2:47 p.m. 

"Oh my God, our neighbor's shooting," one caller said. 

With shaky voices, neighbors tell dispatchers they heard two neighbors arguing in the moments before the shooting. They tell dispatchers someone has been shot and they need an ambulance quickly. 

In a call at 2:48 p.m., a man said he was walking his dog and heard six or seven gunshots. 

Community working to recover 

More than a week after the shooting, Ocean View and Hamby avenues in Kure Beach were quiet; long gone were the sirens, police cars and crime scene tape.

Two neighbors, who wished to remain anonymous, said the community is still shaken and sad about the events of that afternoon. 

"You just never expect that to happen," one neighbor said.  

Jamey Cross is the public safety reporter at the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter @jameybcross.