Two vials of blood drawn from Robert Kenneth Stewart on March 29 are being tested for drugs after Stewart told an emergency room nurse "he had taken six nerve pills and he does not remember anything else," according to search warrants ordered unsealed late Monday.

Stewart was taken to FirstHealth Moore Regional under arrest for treatment of a gunshot wound to his midsection. Carthage police Cpl. Justin Garner arrested Stewart following a hallway shoot-out in which the officer was wounded by a shotgun blast and, at the same time, fired a single bullet that put Stewart on the floor.

That one shot ended Stewart's rampage through Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation Center where authorities say he killed eight unarmed people, all but one elderly and infirm. Some were in wheelchairs when they were shot.

Warrants were signed that day by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge James M. Webb. Sgt. Bryan Monroe and other deputies of Moore County Sheriff Lane Carter had already made a forcible entry into Stewart's home to check for any additional victims. They observed ammunition "in plain sight on the kitchen table and also on a bed," according to search warrant documents. Monroe conducted a safety sweep, determined there was no one in the residence, and remained to prevent entry. Detective George Dennis obtained a warrant from Webb to search the house for firearms, ammunition, notes and other evidence.

The subsequent search of Stewart's green-striped white double-wide mobile home at 2530 Glendon-Carthage Road resulted in investigators seizing shotguns, pistols, rifles and ammunition, as well as notes and notebooks.

An inventory shows nine weapons taken, with most of them being heavy gauge guns. The seizure captured a .50 caliber black powder muzzleloader, shotguns, including a Traditions 50 caliber shotgun with scope, a 12 gauge semiautomatic Remington and a 12 gauge Browning over-and-under.

Another warrant resulted in the search and seizure of a Jeep Cherokee registered to Stewart's estranged wife, who fled what her mother called a "violent marriage" to take refuge with her family.

A witness, Darlene Harris, told officers she saw Stewart in the parking lot at Pinelake getting out of a black vehicle. She told a deputy she watched Stewart get out of the driver's side, go around to the passenger side and open the passenger door, take out a gun and go into Pinelake.

Stewart is recovering from his wounds at Central Prison in Raleigh where he is detained under a safekeeping order issued by Webb. He is presently charged with eight counts of first degree murder and one count of felony assault on a law enforcement officer.

His next scheduled court appearance is set for April 13, but the Moore County Grand Jury meets that same day and indictments are expected.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's print edition of The Pilot.