Alleged Raleigh courthouse shooter has long legal history

Key Points:

• Gwendolyn White, 57, is charged with two counts of attempted murder after allegedly shooting two attorneys outside the Wake County Courthouse; the attorneys represented the Rolesville Police Department in a civil suit she filed related to body camera footage.
• White has a long history of legal actions, having filed at least 15 lawsuits in Wake County since 1997, none of which she has won; due to her frequent filings, a gatekeeper order now requires her to have attorney approval or post a bond before filing new cases.
• In 2023, White faced a misdemeanor stalking charge and was found incapable of proceeding to trial, leading to court-ordered mental health treatment; her behavior also led to her being trespassed from Duke Raleigh Hospital and restricted in visiting her mother.
• White’s mother, diagnosed with vascular dementia and arterial stenosis, was under supervised care after White allegedly displayed disruptive behavior and attempted to remove her from a nursing home; White publicly accused medical providers of mistreatment and conspiracy surrounding her mother’s death in May 2025.
• The shooting incident followed a court hearing where White’s request for a new trial was to be addressed; after being removed from the courtroom for belligerence, she returned with a handgun and shot the attorneys, leading to her arrest three hours later.