Man Gets 16 Years For Shooting Death Of Grandmother

Detectives say he was aiming at another when grandmother was hit

By Emily Weaver
Daily Record of Dunn

An Erwin man was sentenced to spend 16-20 years in prison for the shooting death of a 72-year-old grandmother who was gunned down at a stop sign in the Bunnlevel area in 2021.

Artis Lewis Elliott, now 33, submitted a guilty Alford plea to a charge of second-degree murder for the death of Margie Pipkin, three days before jury selection was set to begin for his trial on Jan. 12. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt for the crime, but does admit the state has enough evidence for a jury to render a guilty verdict if the case were to go to trial.

He was initially charged with committing first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, an assault with a deadly weapon and shooting into an occupied vehicle. Those charges were dismissed in lieu of the second-degree murder plea on Jan. 9.

Elliott is accused of shooting Pipkin when he reportedly opened fire on another car on the morning of July 19, 2021. Pipkin was stopped in her car at the intersection of Bunnlevel-Erwin and Beaver Dam roads when the shots were fired.

Pipkin suffered a gunshot wound to her head and died of her injuries in a local hospital the following day.

Harnett County Sheriff’s Office investigators said Elliott was suspected to have been the only gunman, that day, in a shooting that involved two cars.

In a press conference held minutes before Elliott turned himself in on July 21, 2021, Harnett County Sheriff Wayne Coats said Pipkin was well loved in the community and died as a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Judge C. Winston Gilchrist sentenced Elliott to spend between 192 months (16 years) and 243 months (20 years and three months) in prison. Elliott was given credit for the 1,634 days he spent in jail awaiting the closure of his case.