A 69-year-old Greenville man is sitting in the Pitt County Jail under a $100,000 secured bond after police say he pointed a handgun at another person, fired shots into the ground and into the air, and threatened to shoot the victim in the mouth. James Junior Leavy was arrested Saturday and now faces four separate charges tied to the alleged confrontation within Greenville city limits.
According to arrest warrants cited by WCTI, Leavy pointed a Cobra .380 Magnum handgun at a person before firing a round into the ground near the victim's feet. Investigators also accuse him of firing a separate shot into the air while still within city limits, and warrants say he threatened to shoot the person in the mouth. Greenville police arrested Leavy on August 29, and he remains held in the Pitt County Jail as the case moves forward.
A magistrate's order filed after the arrest, detailed by Fighting Crime News and Who's Wanted, shows Leavy was formally booked on August 30 and is scheduled for his initial appearance in Pitt County District Court on October 13 at 8:55 a.m. That hearing will take place at the Pitt County Courthouse on West Third Street in downtown Greenville, where the county's misdemeanor criminal proceedings are handled, per gotocourt.com.
Four Misdemeanor Charges, No Felonies
Despite the alarming details in the arrest warrants — a gun pointed at another person, shots fired near someone's feet, a round sent into the air, and an explicit threat — court filings show all four counts against Leavy are misdemeanors under North Carolina law rather than felonies. He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, assault by pointing a gun, discharging a firearm in the city, and communicating threats, the same filings show.
Assault with a deadly weapon without serious injury is a Class A1 misdemeanor under North Carolina General Statute § 14-33(c)(1), the state's highest misdemeanor tier, carrying a maximum of 150 days in jail, according to the Patrick Roberts Law Blog. Assault by pointing a gun carries the same Class A1 designation under General Statute § 14-34, regardless of whether the weapon was loaded, unloaded, or the act was allegedly committed in jest, according to the Beaver Courie Law Firm.
The communicating threats charge, meanwhile, is a Class 1 misdemeanor under General Statute § 14-277.1 that carries up to 120 days in jail, and prosecutors must prove a reasonable person would believe the threat and that the victim feared it would be carried out, according to the Manning Law Firm. The handgun identified in the warrants, a Cobra .380, was made by Utah-based Cobra Enterprises, a manufacturer of low-cost zinc-alloy pocket pistols that filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2020, per the Cobra Firearms entry on Wikipedia.
Bond and Community Ties
To secure release from the Pitt County Jail, Leavy would need to either post the full $100,000 in cash or pay a non-refundable premium of up to 15 percent — about $15,000 — to a licensed bail bondsman, according to 24 Hour Bondsman Greenville. It remains unclear whether he has posted that bond. Archival records from Greenville's Daily Reflector, housed in East Carolina University's digital collections, indicate Leavy has been a longtime resident of the Greenville community, having lived on Paris Avenue in Pitt County since at least 1983.
The arrest adds to a string of firearm discharge cases Greenville police have handled this year. Earlier this month, two people were charged after bullets tore into an apartment with children inside, and in July, two others were arrested after bullets struck a Greenville home, according to separate Hoodline reports on both incidents.
What Happens Next
Whether prosecutors will alter or elevate the charges against Leavy before his October 13 court date remains an open question, as does whether he will post bond before then. For now, he stays in custody at the Pitt County Jail awaiting his initial appearance in Pitt County District Court.
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