Isabella Dolin survived the Food Lion attack, while authorities tied it to two earlier shootings and charged a Fayetteville man.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Isabella Dolin was stopping for coffee before work when authorities say an attempted carjacking in a Food Lion parking lot left the 24-year-old with a gunshot wound to the face, ending a rapid sequence in which two other women had already been shot elsewhere in the Fayetteville area.
Dolin survived, but her family said she would need reconstructive surgery and continued medical care. Police say the man accused of attacking her, 52-year-old Robert Page, had already been involved in a shooting of his girlfriend and another shooting during an attempted carjacking at a Hardee’s before reaching the grocery store on Aug. 30. Page was arrested after the Food Lion attack and later ordered held without bond. He faces multiple felony charges arising from the morning’s events. The charges remain allegations, and the available public record does not show that the case has reached a final disposition.
The Food Lion encounter is the most detailed of the three shootings because Dolin’s family and a bystander publicly described what happened around her. Her sister, Leighanna Bullard, told local news outlets that Dolin had stopped at the store on McArthur Road to pick up coffee on her way to a work shift. According to Bullard, an unfamiliar man pulled up near her and demanded her car. Dolin initially reacted as though she did not understand that the demand was serious. Her sister said the man then pushed Dolin and shot her. He tried to take the vehicle but was unable to get it started, according to the family account reported by ABC11.
The moments immediately after the shooting brought another stranger into the story. Derrick Hicks told WRAL that he approached after seeing Dolin injured. As he moved closer, he said, the man near her departed in a vehicle. Hicks stayed with Dolin and rendered aid until emergency responders arrived. Bullard later said her family believed his decision to stop and help was crucial. Hicks did not cast his actions as heroic, instead describing them as a normal response to seeing someone who needed assistance. The encounter gave Dolin help before paramedics reached the parking lot and provided investigators with another eyewitness to the aftermath of the attack.
Dolin was eventually flown to UNC Medical Center, according to WRAL. Her family said the injury would require reconstructive surgery and that the full extent of her long-term medical needs was not yet known in the immediate aftermath. A fundraiser organized for her recovery similarly described anticipated surgery, continued care and time away from work. Those family statements provide the clearest public picture of any of the three women’s recoveries. Officials did not release comparable detail about the other victims, and their privacy leaves significant parts of the medical aftermath outside the public record.
By the time Dolin encountered the accused man, police say the morning’s violence had already moved through two earlier locations. Fayetteville officers had been sent to a Hardee’s on Ramsey Street after a report of both a shooting and an attempted carjacking. Prosecutors later alleged that Page tried to take a vehicle occupied by a couple and shot the woman inside. Officers arriving at the restaurant found the wounded woman, but the suspected shooter was gone. She was taken for treatment at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, according to initial reports. Authorities have not publicly identified her in the reporting reviewed for this article.
The Hardee’s episode, in turn, was linked to a still earlier call handled by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office. At about 7:03 a.m., deputies went to the 700 block of Messenger Street after a 911 report of a shooting. They found a wounded woman who was later identified in warrants as Page’s girlfriend. She was taken for medical treatment. Prosecutors allege Page then took her vehicle and left, creating the connection between what began as an apparent domestic incident and the two later encounters in public parking lots. District Attorney Billy West said the first episode had an apparent domestic context, while the two later women seemed to have encountered Page by chance.
That progression is important because investigators have not announced one motive that accounts for all three alleged attacks. The first woman had a personal relationship with Page, according to court-related reporting. The Hardee’s victim and Dolin apparently did not. In the latter two episodes, the alleged attempts to obtain vehicles provide an immediate reason for the encounters but do not by themselves explain why gunfire followed. Dolin’s family publicly questioned why the attack happened at all. Officials have not released evidence showing that she or the Hardee’s victim was selected because of any prior connection to the accused man.
The response shifted from emergency medical calls to a search for a suspect as police connected the scenes. Fayetteville police said investigators used witness information and the department’s Crime Information Center to locate Page after the Food Lion shooting. West said in local reporting that Page surrendered without incident once officers found him. A vehicle believed to have been used during the alleged sequence was recovered in the Ramsey Street area. The arrest came after two agencies had responded to incidents that initially appeared at different addresses but were later treated as part of the same morning sequence.
Page’s charges reflect that multi-scene investigation. Fayetteville police reported two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of discharging a weapon into occupied property and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. The city case also included robbery with a dangerous weapon, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of stolen property and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Separate allegations arose from the sheriff’s office investigation of the Messenger Street shooting. Early news reports therefore carried different charge totals as authorities processed the incidents through different cases and jurisdictions.
A judge ordered Page held without bond during his initial court proceedings. Local reporting said he appeared on matters connected with the different shootings as prosecutors laid out the alleged sequence. The no-bond order kept him in the Cumberland County detention system while the cases moved forward. None of the charges constitutes a finding of guilt. Prosecutors would still have to prove the allegations in court or obtain a plea, and the reporting reviewed through Oct. 19 did not establish that either outcome had occurred.
Later reporting raised a separate question about Page’s background. WRAL said court records identified him as a validated member of the Eight Trey Crips and showed a criminal history extending more than two decades. The station also emphasized an important limitation: it had not been established that the Aug. 30 shootings were directed by a gang or carried out for a gang’s benefit. Former U.S. Attorney Michael Easley Jr. said a validation designation generally reflects evidence of continuing gang connections, but he cautioned against automatically classifying the shootings themselves as gang violence. That distinction keeps the focus on what investigators can actually prove about these specific events.
For Dolin’s family, the legal questions developed alongside a much more immediate concern: recovery from an attack that began during a routine stop before work. Public accounts from her relatives described gratitude that she survived, concern about future surgery and appreciation for the stranger who stayed with her. All three women were reported in stable condition by the end of the day of the shootings, although officials did not later publish comprehensive medical updates for each victim. Searches of reliable public reporting through Oct. 19 did not locate a later trial result or other final resolution in Page’s criminal cases, leaving the prosecution pending in the most recent verified accounts reviewed.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.