Five suspects have been arrested in connection with a mass shooting at a “topless pool party” in North Carolina that killed one person and wounded or hurt nearly a dozen others in the melee.
Garon Nathaniel Killian, 20, was taken into custody late Tuesday night and charged with first-degree attempted murder, the first of several arrests in connection with the weekend gunfire, the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that Killian was one of at least two people suspected of initiating the mass shooting on Sunday, June 1.
Four more people were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday, the sheriff’s office said, including 22-year-old Zachary Micheal Bates of Morgantown, who along with Killian was charged with attempted first-degree murder. Patrick Lee Tolbert, 22, and Raekwon Malik Craig, 21, were each charged with three counts of allowing someone under 21 to possess alcoholic beverages in the course of helping plan the party, police said. The fourth, 18-year-old Caldwell County resident Zoe Braswell, was charged with one count of being an accessory after the fact to attempted first-degree murder.
Police were still seeking three other men for attempted first-degree murder, all considered armed and dangerous, the sheriff’s office said. One of them, Toland Huff Jr., allegedly initiated the shooting alongside Killian, police said. The two shot at the party from a neighboring hillside in a “seemingly uninitiated, unprovoked attack,” Major Aaron Turk with the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office said, according to WBTV-TV. Partygoers returned fire, Turk said.
Authorities provided few other details about Killian, and they did not name any other suspects.
During an initial court appearance on Wednesday, Killian was granted a $200,000 bond despite prosecutors’ requests, reported the Charlotte Observer. On Thursday, District Court Judge Scott Conrad revoked Killian’s bail during a court appearance on the April charges.
Officers with the Hickory Police Department were initially called to a home in southwest Catawba County’s Mountain View community for a noise complaint. Hours later, at around 12:45 a.m., they returned to investigate reports of shots being fired. When they arrived on the scene, they found 58-year-old Shawn Patrick Hood suffering a fatal gunshot wound. Turk said he had helped promote the party.
When the shooting started, as many as 100 people were at the home for an event billed on social media as a “topless pool party,” according to an invitation viewed by the Charlotte Observer. The other victims ranged in age from 16 to 58.
In total, more than 80 shots were fired at a crime scene spanning several properties on the quiet residential road. The investigation has stretched through six counties, police said. FBI agents have been at the scene this week examining bullet trajectories. Authorities have also put out multiple appeals for any camera footage that would shed light on the violent incident.
With News Wire Services
