A 35-year-old Battleboro man is being held on a $250,000 secured bond after police say he shot and seriously injured a victim while trying to rob them at gunpoint in Rocky Mount. Anthony Rashad Fenner was booked into custody on Tuesday, September 8, facing felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.
According to WCTI, charging documents accuse Fenner of possessing and threatening to use a black-and-silver pistol while attempting to take money or other personal property from a victim. An arrest warrant issued on September 1 alleges Fenner shot and seriously injured the victim during the encounter, and the case was set for an initial appearance in Edgecombe County District Court on September 9, according to a Facebook post detailing the warrant. Public booking records reviewed by Edgecombe County Mugshots Zone confirm Fenner was formally processed into custody on September 8 on the same felony counts.
What the Charges Carry Under State Law
The severity of Fenner's charges stems from how North Carolina classifies armed robbery attempts. Under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-87, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon is treated as a Class D felony, the same classification given to a completed armed robbery, per the North Carolina General Assembly. Separately, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury is a Class E felony that can carry an active prison sentence of up to 88 months in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, depending on a defendant's prior record level, according to the Glover Law Firm.
Initial district court appearances like the one scheduled for Fenner are designed to formally advise defendants of their rights, determine whether they have legal representation, and set the stage for probable cause hearings or grand jury indictments, the same source notes.
Battleboro's Ties to Rocky Mount
Fenner is listed as a Battleboro resident, a community with a layered jurisdictional history that helps explain why Rocky Mount police were involved in his case. Battleboro was incorporated as its own town in 1873 before being annexed by Rocky Mount in June 1996, and it straddles both Edgecombe and Nash counties in eastern North Carolina, according to Wikipedia. Fenner's warrant was handled in Edgecombe County, home to an estimated 49,121 residents as of 2025, per the U.S. Census Bureau.
Rocky Mount's violent crime figures add further context to the case. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled for the city show an aggravated assault rate of approximately 725.5 per 100,000 residents, a figure that contributes to an overall violent crime rate well above the North Carolina state average, according to DoorProfit.
Part of a String of Recent Cases
Fenner's arrest is the latest in a series of violent crime cases tied to Battleboro and Rocky Mount in recent weeks. In late August, Nash and Wake County law enforcement arrested another 34-year-old Battleboro resident, caught on I-87 with a stolen gun after allegedly shooting at his estranged wife's SUV. Just weeks before that, Rocky Mount police arrested a 27-year-old man on attempted murder and firearm charges following an August 24 shooting in the city's Happy Hill neighborhood on West Thomas Street.
The current condition of the victim in Fenner's case, whether investigators recovered the black-and-silver pistol described in the charging documents, and whether Fenner has retained an attorney ahead of further court proceedings all remain unclear.
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