By Nikki Gusse
A Cary woman was shot and killed Monday, September 10th at Raleigh’s Cameron Village Shopping Center.
Kathleen Bertrand was on her way to work at 9:30 a.m. Monday when her ex –husband, Christopher Bertrand, pulled a gun out and shot her to death. A witness says they saw Bertrand enter into confrontation with her ex-husband as she was walking into Pier 1 Imports and then later heard gunshots.
Hours later, Christopher Bertrand killed himself behind a business building a mile away. Police say the woman had been so afraid of her ex-husband at one point that she went into hiding. The couple had a history of domestic disputes and a domestic violence protection order was filed to be set in place by Kathleen, who feared for her life.
This issue was particularly concerning to WPU Faculty and Students who were located only miles away from the scene.
“It really scared me, especially because I live only a block over from Cameron Village and knowing that the police hadn’t caught the shooter initially,” said Ashley Freeman, William Peace junior.
Some students that live on campus were completely unaware of the situation that was happening only a few miles down the road.
“I heard about it when I got of class and one of my friends came running up to me freaking out about it,” said William Peace freshmen, Victoria Powell. “The shooting at Cameron Village didn’t really effect me, it scared me a little bit because it was close but other than that I wasn’t really worried.”
Some students did not feel quite as secure, and there was question as to whether or not William Peace Public Safety handled the situation appropriately with concern for student/faculty safety.
“I felt they didn’t handle the situation well at all because if I hadn’t heard the gun shots for myself I would have never known that a shooting occurred,” said Freeman. “It made me feel unsafe,” she said.
WPU Campus Security did send out a security alert text message to students that day prompting students to be careful on and off campus. “I think WPU handled the situation well, they warned us about it, and told us to be careful,” said Powell. “That’s all they really could do and I felt safe for the most part,” she said.