North Carolina law enforcement outraged over bond for suspect in house party shooting

NEWTON, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina local law enforcement expressed frustration on Wednesday that a man charged in connection with last weekend’s shooting around a house party that left one person dead and 11 others injured had been out of jail for unrelated charges lodged against him in April.

Garon Nathaniel Killian, 20, of Lenoir, was arrested Tuesday and accused of one count of attempted first-degree murder related to the shooting in a residential neighborhood about 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of Hickory. Killian remained in the Catawba County jail after a hearing Wednesday before a district court judge who said he could be released awaiting trial if a $200,000 bond was posted. Prosecutors had requested that no bond be allowed, media outlets reported.

By late Wednesday, authorities had announced they were seeking to apprehend three additional suspects — two each wanted on a charge of attempted first-degree murder and one facing three charges of helping someone under age 21 possess alcoholic beverages. Another suspect on identical alcohol counts has been arrested and jailed, according to the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office. Killian also is expected to face additional charges, sheriff’s Maj. Aaron Turk said.

A previous Hickory Police Department press release said Killian and another young man had been charged with several counts — including attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill — for an April 6 altercation in a parking lot that led to shots being fired into a crowd. No one was injured.

The Charlotte Observer, citing court records, said that Killian had been free on a $100,000 bond. Killian’s attorney now and for the April case didn’t respond to phone and email messages Wednesday.

Catawba County Sheriff Don Brown told reporters that he was “outraged” by Wednesday’s $200,000 bond.

“I believe he should have never went back on the street after Hickory Police Department charged him with those crimes,” Brown said. “This is frustrating. It’s infuriating.”

Hickory police Chief Reed Baer also expressed similar concerns.

At least 80 shots were fired beginning early Sunday shortly after midnight in a crime scene that spanned several properties along a neighborhood road, authorities said. People reported running, ducking for cover and scrambling to their cars for safety. FBI agents were still at the scene Wednesday working to determine the trajectories of the bullets that were fired.

Shawn Patrick Hood, 58, of Lenoir, was killed in the gunfire. He was the oldest of the victims, who ranged in age from as young as 16, the sheriff’s office said. Turk said that most of those injured were shot, but he didn’t immediately have information Wednesday on whether any of the injured were still in the hospital.

Turk said the investigation has determined that the shooting began from an elevated area in a yard neighboring the house where the party was happening. Other gunfire then erupted around the home, the home’s front yard and by the road.

The pending alcohol-related charges against two suspects are related to the planning and promotion of the house party, the sheriff’s office said.