North Carolina has a "shall issue" (unless there's a good reason not
to) concealed carry law, so pretty much any resident with a clean
record who meets certain training requirements can get one.   Whether
he had one I know not.  The articles don't seem to mention this.

My (mis)understanding is that firefighters usually wouldn't be armed
in the course of duty, though in some jurisdictions, there are  fire
related personnel (arson investigators and so forth) who are sworn
peace officers; those [may | must] carry weapons.

In this case, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports that the shooter
confronted  the bicyclist about having the kid on the bike, and drew
and fired when the bicyclist walked away.   I don't know if attempted
first-degree murder will stand (depending  on whether there is a
requirement for premeditation, and if so, how well they prove it)
but you can see how that isn't going to look good in court:  he
chooses the confrontation, the victim physically disengages, and then
he shoots?    (At least it doesn't have the "we had to destroy the
village in order to save it" surreal heights of illogic that I first
flashed upon when reading this thread.)

What I see in the papers thus far sounds like a perfect antipattern
for how a citizen with a concealed weapon is supposed to carry
himself.    Unless his side of the story is a *lot* different, he's in
trouble up to his ears and sinking.

--Joe