On May 29, 1972, Melvin D. Harrison Jr., a 23‑year‑old White man from Raleigh, North Carolina, was fatally shot during a sniper attack in the North Hills Mall parking lot. According to reports, he was driving past the mall’s main entrance toward the Ivey’s department store when he was struck by gunfire and died at the scene.

The shooting was part of a broader attack in which a sniper armed with a .22‑caliber rifle fired in bursts from about fifty feet away between parked cars for roughly two to five minutes, reloading twice. Three people were killed at the scene, including Harrison, and a fourth victim wounded at the mall died days later; eight others were injured. Investigators later identified Harvey Glenn McLeod as the shooter; he died by suicide at the scene when police closed in, so no arrest or prosecution followed.

If anyone remembers Melvin Harrison or was at North Hills Mall that Memorial Day, any details about his activities or whereabouts that day could help preserve the record of what happened.