A three-day search for a man wanted for a double homicide in western Gaston County ended early Monday morning more than 60 miles away in a hotel in the foothills of western North Carolina.
Police from two counties and four agencies captured 19-year-old Michael Shane Barnes of Taylorsville as he left a Quality Inn off U.S. 421 in Wilkesboro just after midnight.
Barnes was booked into Gaston County Jail at 7:48 a.m. Monday without bond on two counts of first-degree murder in the Feb. 18 shooting deaths of Robert Lucas Luke Gibby, 22, of Bessemer City, and Adam Kale Wood, 19, of Kings Mountain.
Gaston County Police have now charged two more people with murder in a shooting last week that left two men dead and a third injured.
Police charged Kaleb Isiah Carver, 21, of Taylorsville, with two counts of first-degree murder in the Feb. 18 shooting deaths of Robert Lucas Luke Gibby, 22, of Bessemer City, and Adam Kale Wood, 19, of Kings Mountain.
Police filed juvenile petitions against a third person on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.
Carver was booked into Gaston County Jail without bond at 6:19 p.m. Monday.
Earlier Monday, police arrested Michael Shane Barnes, a 19-year-old suspect from Taylorsville, on identical charges.
Two men head to Gaston court as two families prepare funerals
Six people - the oldest just 22, the youngest a 16-year-old girl - reportedly were part of a meetup in western Gaston County last week on a cold, rainy February night where the purpose included the sale of marijuana.
Before the clock struck midnight on Feb. 18, two of the men - Robert Lucas Luke Gibby, 22, of Bessemer City, and Adam Kale Wood, 19, of Kings Mountain - would be dead.
Shot in the back, according to Gaston County Assistant District Attorney Chad Smith.
Another man, 21-year-old Todd Payton Lee Waggoner of Winston-Salem, would be shot four times, possibly only surviving because he played dead, according to his Charlotte attorney Ryan Ames.
Students at Gaston County Schools have yet another choice in educational programs and pathways.
Denise McLean, Gaston County Schools’ executive director of student support services, recently announced the launch of the Gaston Early College of Medical Sciences – a healthcare-driven high school with four- and five-year pathways – ahead of the 2021-22 school year.
It’s the school districts 21st student choice program ever to be offered.
Students can earn their high school diploma, as well as an associate degree from Gaston College, while sticking to one of a number of concentrations, which include nursing, human services, human services technology, pre-medicine, biotechnology and medical office administration.