Second Grandover Shooting Victim Dies, Raising Greensboro's 2026 Toll to 17

A 76-year-old woman shot alongside her neighbor on Creswell Court in Greensboro's upscale Grandover community has died from her injuries, a day after the first victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Margaret Collins succumbed to her gunshot wounds on Monday, August 24, according to the Greensboro Police Department, following the death of 73-year-old Kathryn Binkley, who did not survive the initial shooting Sunday night.

Police say officers, Guilford County Sheriff's Office deputies, Guilford County EMS and Greensboro Fire all responded to a shooting report on Creswell Court on Sunday night, where first responders found two victims with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds, according to the Greensboro Police Department. Witnesses at the scene identified a neighbor, 64-year-old Michael Wade Hargett, as the assailant, the department said. Creswell Court sits within Grandover, a gated golf community in Southwest Greensboro where townhomes border the Grandover East golf course and have recently sold for between $600,000 and more than $730,000, according to Realtor.com — an affluent enclave more accustomed to quiet fairways than gunfire.

Barricade Standoff Ends With Suspect's Arrest

After the shooting, Hargett barricaded himself inside a nearby residence, prompting a large-scale police response. The department's Special Response Team and Hostage Negotiation Team both responded to the home, units that the City of Greensboro says are typically deployed to secure perimeters and attempt peaceful surrenders in barricaded-suspect situations before any tactical entry is made, per the City of Greensboro.

Police teams eventually entered the residence and found Hargett with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Tactical officers coordinate with Guilford County EMS to render immediate on-scene medical care during these operations, and Hargett was treated before being transported to a local hospital, per the same city account. He was then arrested and, according to WFMY News 2, now faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, shooting into an occupied dwelling and discharging a firearm within city limits.

Charges Carry Mandatory Life Sentence Under State Law

Under North Carolina General Statute 14-17, first-degree murder is a Class A felony that carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole, or the death penalty, upon conviction, according to FindLaw. State law requires prosecutors to establish premeditation or specific felony conditions to secure a Class A murder conviction, meaning the case against Hargett will hinge on evidence that has not yet been made public.

Greensboro police have not released the circumstances that preceded the shooting or a possible motive between the two neighbors. The investigation remains active, and the department says it will share additional information as it becomes available. Police have said they are not seeking any additional suspects in the case.

City's Homicide Count Climbs to 17 in Two Days

Binkley's death was recorded as Greensboro's 16th homicide of 2026, and Collins's death the following day marked the city's 17th, according to the police department's own Facebook accounting — meaning the Creswell Court shooting alone added two homicides to the city's year-to-date tally within 24 hours. That climb comes even as Greensboro leadership reported that overall serious crimes, including total homicides, declined citywide in 2025 compared to the year before, attributing the drop in part to community safety partnerships while flagging ongoing concerns about domestic and neighbor disputes, per the Winston-Salem Journal.

The longer-term trend is starker. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled by local media shows Greensboro recorded 77 homicides in 2023, a 234.8% increase over the 23 homicides logged in the city in 2014, according to WFMY News 2's earlier reporting on the numbers. Whatever drove Sunday's violence in Grandover, it has already made this week's toll grimmer than the year before.

Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000. It remains unclear whether police had responded to any prior disputes at either address on Creswell Court, and Hargett's current medical condition and first court appearance on the murder charges have not yet been announced.