North Carolina shooting leaves 1 dead, 11 injured
One person was killed and 11 other people were wounded in a shooting Sunday morning at a party in western North Carolina, according to the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s deputies and Hickory police officers responded to a report of a shooting at a home on Walnut Acres Drive in the Mountain View community, about 57 miles northwest of Charlotte, at 12:45 a.m.
There had been a noise complaint at the home at around 11 p.m. Saturday that deputies responded to, Sheriff’s Maj. Aaron Turk said at a news briefing Sunday afternoon. Deputies addressed it with the residents of the home, had them turn the music down and “left a short time later,” Turk said.
Over an hour later, the sheriff’s office received multiple 911 calls about a shooting, reporting multiple victims, Turk said. The party included teenagers and people in their 20s and older.
“They discovered what ended up being 12 people shot. One of the 12 was deceased on scene,” Turk said. “Another of those 12 was critically injured and is presently at the hospital in Charlotte — in one of the hospitals in Charlotte.”
Others were treated in local hospitals, Turk said, adding that some have been released, while others were still receiving treatment.
The deceased victim was identified as Shawn Patrick Hood, 58, the sheriff’s office said.
No one had been arrested Sunday afternoon, the sheriff’s office said. A preliminary investigation determined that more than one shooter and more than one weapon, including long guns, were involved.
Authorities do not believe that the shooting was random or “a circumstance that might endanger the community,” Turk said.
The sheriff’s office, Hickory police and State Bureau of Investigation agents are investigating. Investigators were speaking with victims and people who attended the event, officials said.
Turk said it has been difficult to track down information about the incident, adding that “it spans several separate individual pieces of property” larger than around 2 acres.
“In circumstances where there’s a large gathering of people that have come for some common event, like a party, that nobody lives here, nobody is local to here, they all leave — we’re trying to track those people down,” he said.
Officials are also looking into a motive, including animosity between people at the party, Turk said. There is no link between the noise complaint and the shooting, he said.
“We are certainly hopeful to find those that are responsible and bring them here, to justice,” he said.
The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information about the shooting to get in touch.
Catawba County Sheriff Don Brown underscored the rarity of such an incident in the western North Carolina community and spoke about a rise in violence among younger people that he has been seeing — including when they have been perpetrators and victims.
“I talked to some neighbors here; they were visibly upset,” Brown said. “And to our staff that works these types of cases, it’s very difficult. It’s taxing on them. They’ve been out here all night.”