Hayes shot nine people, killing four of them; his subsequent successful use of the insanity defense in courts created a statewide controversy in the early 1990s.
Four of those who were shot, Crystal Cantrell, Tom Nicholson, Melinda Hayes, and Ronnie Hull, died.
Complicating matters, the moped shop sat near the Forsyth and Davidson County lines, leading to confusion as to which law enforcement agency had jurisdiction.
[6] Hayes' yearly petitions to be set free are usually met with protest from the victims' families and scrutiny by the media.
[citation needed] The area of the killings has transformed from rural to suburban, with the addition of shopping centers and subdivisions in the years since.
The building that housed the moped shop was demolished in the late 1990s to make way for a construction waste landfill.