Third arrest made in Raleigh Food Lion parking lot shooting case

Raleigh police have made a third arrest in the Food Lion parking lot shooting case, and the new charge sheet suggests investigators now see the Creedmoor Road violence as more than a one-time burst of gunfire. Gregory Obey, 19, is being held without bond after being charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and conspiracy drug charges with intent to sell.

The shooting turned the parking lot at 5633 Creedmoor Road into a crime scene, a jarring breach of normal life in a place where shoppers expect to run errands and leave quickly. Court records show the case also reaches Frankie Grimes Jr., 31, who faces felony conspiracy charges. Those records say Grimes was trying to rob Obey when Obey fired shots at Grimes, a detail that pushes the case beyond an initial report of an argument ending in gunfire and into allegations of robbery, drugs and armed confrontation.

A third person, Jalen Watson, 21, had already been arrested after he walked into a hospital with a gunshot wound on April 1. That hospital visit appears to have helped investigators connect the pieces of the case and build a broader account of what happened in the Food Lion parking lot. What began as a single shooting call now looks like a linked set of allegations involving multiple suspects and overlapping charges.

The latest arrest also narrows the question Wake County residents have every right to ask after violence reaches a grocery store lot: is there still an active danger to shoppers? Based on the available information, Raleigh police have not publicly described an ongoing threat to the Food Lion, and the arrests suggest detectives have been identifying the people involved rather than chasing a random gunman. Still, the case shows how quickly an ordinary stop for groceries can become a scene of chaos, especially when robbery and drug allegations are folded into the violence.

Raleigh police track reported crime through an online data portal and incident summaries, and North Carolina court records are searchable through the state’s portal or at a clerk of court’s office. In a case like this, those records matter because they reveal how a shooting at a familiar shopping center can evolve, piece by piece, into a larger criminal case with clearer roles, but not yet a full public explanation of motive or risk.