RICHMOND COUNTY, N.C. — A man charged with shooting a firefighter walked into a Richmond County courtroom Wednesday and left in handcuffs.
Tim Hayden was out of jail on bond following the shooting five months ago.
However, defense attorneys for Hayden left the courthouse without their client.
The judge revoked Hayden’s bond for violating the conditions of his release, which involved taking a breath test twice a day with a portable hand-held breath monitoring system.
“He’s a prominent businessman,” said Ellerbe Fire Chief Will Barber. “I think he thinks he’s above the law and for that, I mean, justice was served on that today.”
Two of his firefighters were shot at in September 2025 along Greenlake Road. The suspect had an AR-15-style rifle and opened fire, according to court documents. One firefighter was hit in the leg after allegedly responding to a tripped alarm system at Hayden’s home.
Defense attorneys argued that Hayden, who now faces attempted murder charges, had come home drunk and didn’t intend to shoot at firefighters.
At the time, a judge granted bond with the condition that Hayden doesn’t drink alcohol and has an alcohol-monitoring system.
Last month, the state filed paperwork saying Hayden “missed two breath tests. One on Jan. 14 at 9 a.m. and the other on Feb. 7, 2026.”
Hayden’s attorneys argued their client missed both tests because he forgot to grab the testing device before heading to an AA meeting.
Barber said he’s glad Hayden will remain behind bars.
“We’ll just see what and when the trial starts and go from there,” he said.
Firefighter Jerry Shepard was shot in the leg.
Barber said he has recovered and is now back at work.
VIDEO: Richmond County firefighters outraged over bond granted to suspect
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
