Suspect in N.C. State Crime Spree Pleads Guilty

RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina State University student accused of going on a rampage of robbery and shootings last February entered into a plea deal Monday.

James Darnell Lyons, 19, pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

He will spend a minimum of 89 months in prison.

Raleigh police said Lyons and Timothy Williams, 19, both freshmen, robbed people and shot at several vehicles in the early-morning hours of Feb. 23, 2006.

Although no one was seriously injured, one victim was grazed by a .32-caliber bullet that was fired into her car as she sped away on Cates Avenue after a man who tried to enter her vehicle.

In another incidents that occurred earlier that morning, morning, a group of friends were robbed at gunpoint from inside their vehicle at Hillsborough Street and Ashe Avenue.