Funeral Plans Set for Police Chief

Police Commissioner Peggy Joyner tried to describe how the town wasfeeling.

A wake for Chief Hathaway will be held Saturday from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.Friends and family can pay their last respects at Johnson's Funeral Homeon Sunset Avenue in Rocky Mount.

On Sunday, Hathaway will be laid to rest. The funeral will be held at Sharpsburg Baptist Church at 2 p.m. Hathaway will be buried immediatelyafter the service at Mill Branch Cemetery on Mill Branch Road inSharpsburg.

The community is also mourning loss of 26-year-old Gloria Nicholson, thesuspect's wife. Police say her husband of seven months shot her after shethrew him out the house. Her brother Jarrin saw it all.

Jarrin described what happened that afternoon in his sister's trailer.

Abner Nicholson killed his wife, leaving her two little girls, ages threeand eight, without a mother. The family and says they're trying to find peace.

Gloria's mother says she wants the man who killed her daughter to die. Yesterday the District Attorney said he would seek the death penalty.

Police say they found the gun they think Nicholson used to shoot the twovictims. It was found in the corn field where Nicholson was hiding. Nicholson had just gotten the firearm out of the pawn shop but police sayhe lied to get it back. One question on the paperwork asked whetherNicholson had ever been convicted of domestic violence. He answered "no,"but he was convicted for assaulting a woman back in 1990.

To buy a handgun in North Carolina, you have to apply for a permit whichalso means you are subject to a background check. If investigators findany felony or domestic abuse your application will be rejected.

Drug use, mental problems and pending criminal charges can also be groundsfor rejection.

"Well, generally, it's a good system I think," said Sgt. Joel Turner,Cumberland County Sheriff's Office. "We have a few I'm sure slip through.We catch most that do lie about their applications that are not deservingof a firearm by law."

One flaw in the system involves old domestic violence convictions. Sometimes, they don't show up on background checks. Repeat offenders canalso slip through the cracks when they use a previously issued gun permit since those permits are valid for up to five years.