Two Killed in Early Morning Shooting, Suspect Named

Two people are dead after a gunman opened fire into a crowd outside a nightclub.

It all happened just after two this morning when shots rang out on 5th Street in front of The Other Place nightclub.

The killer remains on the loose tonight.

Police say this all started as an argument between staff at the nightclub and a man named James Richardson who was inside the club.

They say Richardson got kicked out, went to his car, grabbed a gun and drove back past the club firing several shots at a small group of people who were leaving.

Police say he shot and killed two people, one an ECU student, the other a manager at a pizzeria right across the street.

Police were on scene within a minute of being dispatched but, despite the quick response time, Charles Andrew Kirby and Edgar Landon Blackley were killed.

Jayme Hostetter was walking out when shots were fired. She said, “Everybody was yelling and panic kind of ensued.“

Sonny Camarro was inside the club when he heard the shots. “We heard the shots and everybody is running, every body’s ducking,” he said.

Camarro said he went outside and saw one of the victims on the ground and began CPR until paramedics arrived.

“It’s terrible what happened and it’s even horrible to think that it could have been me,“ said Alex, who happens to be an intern with WNCT and a witness to last nights shooting.

He was the designated driver for a friend’s birthday party and just a few feet from one of the victims.

He said, “It’s almost a surreal experience because I’ve never been a witness to someone dyeing or gunshots or anything like that. It was strange at first to see it happen.“

Some stopped by the scene to leave flowers throughout the day while friends and those who saw it happen struggle to make sense of this tragedy.

Kinnley Ballinger went to high school with Blackley. “I’ve never had someone this close, other than my grandfather, die. It’s just weird,“ she said.

Camarro said he is” A little shaken up today, just trying to come back to the real world I guess and let it sink in.“

There are still some details that police are trying to figure out tonight like if Richardson was alone in the car.

What many people we spoke with can’t figure out is what the point was to this random act of violence.

Chief Anderson says Richardson ran into trouble with the law in the past accused of financial crimes dealing with worthless checks, but nothing violent like today.