Gastonia Shooting Survivor Used Her Nose to Call for Help After Being Shot Twice

A 20-year-old woman wounded in a shooting spree at a Gastonia home last week called her boyfriend for help by dialing his number with her nose after being shot twice and losing the use of her arms, according to family members.

Autumn Setola remained in critical but stable condition in a Gastonia-area hospital as of Tuesday, undergoing surgeries daily, according to Monica Shelley-Henson, the mother of Setola’s boyfriend, Jacob “Jake” Henson.

“She is independent. She is strong. … She’s a very kind girl,” Shelley-Henson said. “She’s definitely someone who will meet you where you are.”

Authorities say the shooting happened Thursday morning at a home on Forbes Road in Gastonia, where suspects Cory Armstrong, 29, and Camryn Moore, 26, also lived. Two people were killed and Setola and her stepbrother, Keaton, were wounded before the couple fled across state lines into southern Ohio.

Setola was shot twice during the attack and could not move her arms, but managed to reach her phone and dial her boyfriend using the tip of her nose, according to Shelley-Henson.

“She said, ‘I’ve been shot by Cory,'” Henson told WCNC, describing the moment he heard her voice on the phone. “I ran. I had no shoes on. My shirt is backwards.”

Henson said he ran out of his house barefoot, got in his car and called 911 as he drove toward the Forbes Road house, not knowing what he would find when he arrived.

“[I was] driving over there and calling 911 to let them know,” he said. “I was freaking out. Please let her live. I didn’t know how bad it was.”

By the time he reached the scene, paramedics were already there. Setola and her stepbrother were taken to CaroMont Regional Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, officials said Friday.

Two others died at the scene: Victoria “Heather” Moore, 50, and Josiah Bumgardner, 38, Camryn Moore’s mother and uncle. According to family members, Bumgardner had previously transitioned from a female, Megan, and had been identifying as male.

Armstrong and Camryn Moore fled into southern Ohio, setting off a manhunt that ended Friday when both were found dead of gunshot wounds after a police chase, in what North Carolina authorities describe as a possible double-suicide. Ohio State Highway Patrol has not yet confirmed that finding.

Investigators have not said what prompted the shootings.