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Fourth victim, 14, dies in shooting

Tuesday, November 22, 2011
(Updated 11:51 pm)

Update, 11:53 a.m. Tuesday: The Guiford County Sheriff's Office said Zachary "Zack" Lee Smith died at 7:45 p.m. Monday. Smith, 14, was the younger son of Mary Ann Holder.

— This much is clear: Mary Ann Holder and Randy Lamb had an affair.

Accusations and restraining orders followed. Naked pictures sent via text. Stalking. Threats of a civil suit — or worse.

Lamb’s wife, Jennifer Swann Lamb, claimed Holder followed her, tried to run her off the road, even switched her son’s school to the one attended by the Lambs’ son.

Most other facts paint a murkier picture of what led Holder on Sunday to shoot Randy Lamb in the arm, kill her son and niece, critically wound three others, then kill herself.

Holder, 36, of 923 Cocoa Drive, acted alone, according to Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes.

She shot and killed Robert Dylan Smith, 17, her older son. He died Sunday at Holder’s house.

She shot Hanaleigh Michelle Suttles, her 8-year-old niece, in the head. Suttles, a third-grader at Pleasant Garden Elementary, died Monday at Moses Cone Hospital.

She shot Zachary “Zack” Lee Smith, 14, her younger son. Police found him in the back of Holder’s black Ford Explorer. Smith, a ninth-grader at Southeast High School, died Monday at Cone.

Two others remain at the hospital — all minors, all shot in the head, all in critical condition. They are:

• Richard “Ricky” Brian Suttles, 17, Holder’s nephew. Police found him, along with his sister, Hanaleigh, in the Cocoa Drive home. Suttles is a senior at The Middle College at GTCC-High Point.

• Makayla Lee Woods, 15. She is a sophomore at Southeast High School and was dating Robert, who went by Dylan. Police also found her at Holder’s home.

Barnes said Holder shot the four children at the home sometime Sunday, but it is unclear when. No one in the house called 911.

The shootings leave unanswered questions for young people who lost friends, said 17-year-old Adam Couch, who said he grew up with Dylan and Zack.

Zack spent Saturday night with Adam’s younger brother, watching an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at a sports bar before sleeping at the Couches’ home, Adam said.

Adam’s father, Mark Couch, said his wife, Stacy, is best friends with Holder, and they had been friends for about 10 years.

He disagreed with the sheriff’s suspected motive.

“That’s not it. The affair was old news. Something else is out there to make her snap like that.”

Mark Couch said Holder’s life revolved around the kids.

“I don’t believe this is a case of a jilted lover.”

Although he doesn’t believe Holder was the shooter, he can’t explain what happened.

Adam Couch was one of more than 250 people who attended a student-led prayer meeting at Pleasant Garden Baptist Church on Monday night.

“I’m still kind of shocked with everything that’s happened,” Adam said. “It’s just like one big nightmare. It’s hard to believe it’s real. My best friends are gone. (There’s) a lot of pain and hurt and wondering.”

He said the gathering — filled with students sobbing and sniffling as guitarists played Christian songs — gives him hope.

“There is a lot of power in prayer,” Adam said. “Even though we’ve lost a lot of people already, the ones that are still hanging on, there’s a lot of hope for them. There’s huge support from the school and everyone here at this church.”

The seventh victim, Randal Scott “Randy” Lamb, 40, is Holder’s former boyfriend. He is in stable condition after, according to what he said in a 911 call, Holder shot him in the shoulder and elbow.

At a news conference Monday, Barnes said it appears Lamb and Holder had an affair, but the relationship had ended.

The News & Record wasn’t able to reach the Lambs on Monday.

However, court filings help reveal the complicated relationship between Holder and the Lambs.

In February, Jennifer Lamb filed a temporary restraining order against Holder, saying Holder had thwarted the Lambs’ attempts to reconcile by repeatedly calling, emailing and texting.

“Mary Ann Holder had an affair with my husband beginning in approx. (sic) Feb. 08,” Jennifer Lamb alleged in the hand-written restraining order.

“Since this time my husband and (sic) have tried to work out our differences and mend our marriage.

“However, Ms. Holder continues to call cell phones belonging to me, also called my home, sent text messages and email, including naked pictures of herself and follow me and my children.

“If we go to the mall she shows up, movies and stores. She also moved her son to my son’s school to be near my family and recently she tried to run me off the road and follow me down Elm Street.”

Officials dismissed the case because neither woman appeared for a court hearing in late February.

In July, Holder received a temporary restraining order against Randy and Jennifer Lamb.

Holder said Jennifer Lamb made numerous phone calls to her. And Holder said in the span of a few days, Randy Lamb drove by her house more than 10 times, called more than 100 times and made threats.

Holder wrote: “He has threatened to come by anytime he wants too (sic) and has said if I give him what he wants he will stop his wife from filing alienation of affection, but if not he is going to enjoy his new car that I pay for.”

On Monday, Barnes made a reference to the alienation lawsuit, but the News & Record was unable to find one in the court system on Monday.

Holder wrote on the restraining order that Randy Lamb had “a pistol under (sic) console in his truck. ...”

Holder’s restraining orders against the Lambs expired on July 11.

In that filing, Holder listed the names of children living in her house — including the four injured or killed in the shooting.

It also mentions two other children living in her home who were not injured Sunday: Christina N. Smith and Shianne R. Suttles. A friend of Holder’s said Christina is Holder's adult daughter, and that Christina was raising 9-month-old Shianne.

It’s unclear where they are today.

The relationship between Holder and the Suttles children adds another layer of complexity.

Holder was raising Ricky, Hanaleigh and Shianne Suttles at her Cocoa Drive house. They are the children of Holder’s former sister-in-law, Carrie Beth Hunt Suttles.

An obituary for Suttles, who died in March, thanks Holder for taking care of the children.

Some of the victims attended — or previously attended — Southeast Guilford High School. On Monday afternoon, students and family friends gathered in tight knots at Moses Cone, text messaging and tweeting news as it came slowly throughout the day.

As people were waiting for details about the conditions of the three surviving children, officials were releasing new information about Holder.

She had worked at the graphics company Avery Dennison on Summit Avenue — in the sales office doing administrative support — since June 2010, a company spokeswoman said.

The company hired her through a temp agency, according to the spokeswoman.

The sheriff said detectives have recovered two handguns used in the shootings as well as two notes in which Holder takes responsibility for the shootings, apologizes for her actions and implies she had been wronged.

The notes shed little light on the motives for shooting herself and six other people, Barnes said.

Staff writers Jonnelle Davis and Joe Killian contributed to this report.

Contact Margaret Moffett Banks at 373-7031 or margaret.banks@news-record.com

Contact John Newsom at 373-7312 or john.newsom@news-record.com

Contact Dioni L. Wise at 373-7090 or dioni.wise@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Courtesty of Mark and Stacy Couch

Photo Caption: Mary Ann Holder (center) and her son Zack Smith (bottom), nephew Ricky Suttles (top left) and son Dylan Smith (top right).

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