NEWTON, N.C. (AP) — Eight people have now been arrested and charged in connection with last weekend’s shootings at a western North Carolina house party where a barrage of gunfire ended with one person dead and 11 others injured, authorities said.
Five defendants whose arrests were announced Thursday or early Friday by the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office made court appearances Friday. Four of the five were facing one count each of attempted first-degree murder. A judge ordered two of those four to remain in jail without bond, according to the Catawba County Clerk of Court’s office.
But late Friday, the sheriff’s office announced that 10 additional counts of attempted first-degree murder had been filed against each of the four who already faced one similar count. All four were jailed pending scheduled court appearances early next week, according to an office press release.
A prosecutor handling the defendants’ appearances Friday said in court that the shootings were gang-related, and the sheriff’s office agreed, news outlets reported.
“Gang motives were a part of this tragedy,” sheriff’s Maj. Aaron Turk told WSOC-TV. “We are still unraveling that as part of our larger investigation.”
Investigators have said both adults and young people were among the scores of attendees at the house party in a residential neighborhood roughly 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) northwest of Charlotte.
Another defendant arrested earlier in the week also is charged with one count of attempted first-degree murder. The two others were charged with helping underage youth possess alcoholic beverages — the sheriff’s office identified them as planning and promoting the house party.
Authorities have said over 80 shots were fired shortly after midnight June 1 in a crime scene that spanned several properties. The shootings began with gunfire coming from an elevated area in a yard neighboring the house, the Catawba sheriff’s office has said, with shots later around the home, the home’s front yard and by a road.
Shawn Patrick Hood, 58, of Lenoir, was killed. He was the oldest of the victims, who ranged in age from as young as 16, the sheriff’s office said. Most of the people injured were shot, Turk has said.
As of Friday, no one had been specifically charged for Hood’s death. Turk told reporters this week that investigators needed to account for every shot that had been fired at partygoers “before we can discern who might be responsible for the homicide.” FBI agents had been at the crime scene this week examining bullet trajectories.
