FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) — Fayetteville city leaders are growing frustrated with gun violence that some claim is plaguing the city. This comes after a woman was shot and carjacked while walking to her car at Cumberland’s Food Mart on Monday afternoon.

Two suspects waiting at the corner of the store ambushed the customer as she was walking to her car. They stole her car keys, shot the woman four times, and jumped in the car.

The woman stumbled back inside Cumberland’s Food Mart and laid on the floor and waited until police arrived. The suspects couldn’t start the car, got out, and ran before police arrived. She remains in the hospital in stable condition.

“We are on a hamster wheel,” Councilwoman Kathy Jensen, Fayetteville District 1 said.

A heated debate erupted among council members during a council work session on Monday evening. They debated on whether a gun violence study would be beneficial to the city.

“We want to spend money and save the world and help people that’s great. But this is not our area of responsibility,” Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Dawkins said.

“At some point you got to take personal responsibility. So, if you want to protect your family in your home, you got to make sure that gun is not available for a child or young person to get,” the mayor pro tem also said.

“To say that this city does not have a responsibility to look out for [or] to help with the gun violence issues—that’s just disrespectful. That is wrong,” Councilwoman Shakeyla Ingram, Fayetteville District 2 said.

“For you to make those comments were so disrespectful to not only me as a mother who lost her child,” Councilwoman Courtney Banks-McLaughlin, Fayetteville District 8 said.

McLaughlin’s 15-year-old daughter was killed in a shooting last year.

With a 9 to 1 vote, the council is proceeding with looking into the study which would examine the economic and societal costs associated with gun violence in Fayetteville between 2012 and 2022. It would also give custom gun policy options and strategies to advance violence prevention.

Fayetteville Mayor Pro Tem Dawkins is against the study. He said however, there are other ways to address crime, which include more patrol officers and community policing.

“If we just want to fill good about doing something, we are doing something, okay great. But let’s really do something that brings people together. Lets bring the DA’s office, let’s bring the County of Cumberland, let’s bring the school board. Let’s assign committee councilmembers and let’s have a discussion,” Dawkins said.