WELCOME, N.C. (WGHP) — A North Carolina couple that was kidnapped at knifepoint by the suspect in a triple shooting are still digesting their scary experience.
“We asked him ‘do you need something?’ because it was about the time people were coming in?” Tom Anders said. “He said ‘no, I need to get out of here I’m in trouble’ and we didn’t see the knife right at that point but then just a few moments later we did.”
Tom and Ginger Anders never expected to come face to face with a dangerous man on the run in their church, but that’s exactly what happened on Sunday morning when they encountered Zackary Plowman the morning after Lexington police say he allegedly shot three people.
The Anders say that Plowman demanded the couple hand over their money and cellphones before forcing the two into the front seat of their car telling them to drive towards Highway 52.
“It wasn’t dramatic or anything like a knife held to our throat. He kept reassuring us that he wasn’t going to hurt us. But we were like ‘okay we are just going to do what he asks.’ We weren’t scared, to be honest, just more concerned for him because he looked troubled,” Ginger Anders said.
Authorities say Plowman eventually dropped the couple off along Sink Road. Their car was found a while later after Lexington Police Department attempted to stop the vehicle, but Plowman wasn’t found until Sunday evening when a Davidson County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit made the arrest.
“He’s very dangerous. As we find out more things he was involved with it’s clear he was just a very very unstable individual that I’m glad is off the street and behind bars,” Sheriff Richie Simmons said.
According to Simmons, Plowman had just gotten out of prison for a previous second-degree murder charge and now with new charges piling up the Anders are still digesting this scary encounter.
“I guess you don’t know what he went through, how he got to where he was,” Ginger Anders said. “We didn’t know any of the things that happened so we didn’t feel threatened.”
Across the two agencies, Plowman was charged with the following:
- Three counts of attempted murder
- Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
- Felony flee to elude
- Breaking and entering into a place of worship
- Larceny after breaking and entering
- Robbery with a dangerous weapon
- Two counts of first-degree kidnapping
- Larceny of a motor vehicle
- Misdemeanor larceny
“He had just gotten off of parole and he was free and clear and decided not to stay on the right side of the law and began yet another career as a criminal and these are very very serious charges, we’re just waiting to see how those victims turn out,” Simmons said.
Two of the victims in the Lexington shooting remain in critical condition.