Couple testifies against man accused of targeting, robbing elderly people

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Attorneys heard testimony Monday from an elderly couple who said they were targeted and robbed by a Gaston County man.

[PAST COVERAGE: Man accused of targeting elderly arrested, charged]

Brian Carver is accused of going on a crime spree and robbing elderly victims in March in the Dallas area.

Police said Carver went to the couple’s home on Kiser Dairy Road, held them at gunpoint and threatened to kill them if they resisted.

Carver and his stepson, Joshua Rick, are also charged in the murder of 90-year-old Ray Jackson.

The other victims gave their testimony about their encounters with Brian Carver.

"He put a gun to my head," Roland Barnes said.

Roland Barnes said Carver came to his home pretending he needed a ride and pulled a gun on him in the car.

"Tapped me on the shoulder and told me to keep driving, or, ‘I will kill you,’" Roland Barnes said.

Carver ordered him to drive back to his Dallas home, Roland Barnes said.

His wheelchair-bound wife said she saw Carver with a gun drawn on her husband.

"I asked him what he thought he was doing and he said, ‘What does it look like?’" Elizabeth Barnes said.

She said he forced her into the bathroom.

"(He) Said, ‘If I hear any noise come out of this bathroom whatsoever, come out of this bathroom, I'm going to shoot your husband.'"

Police said he took guns and money, forced her husband to drive to an isolated area and left him there.

Alfred Cloninger said Carver did nearly the same thing to him.

"Then all of sudden, he turned back with a gun up in my face," Cloninger said.

The defense attorney said the witnesses had trouble identifying the man they said held them at gunpoint.

"A stranger is in your house 30 or 40 minutes, and you didn't recognize him, right?" defense attorney Gus Anthony said.

That will likely be an argument the defense will use when this case goes to trial.

Department of Transportation workers found Jackson’s body in March on the bank of a river on Landers Church Road in Gaston County. He had been reported missing a week earlier.

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