HAMLET — Just days after serving as the starting point of a march against violence in the neighborhood, the Circle B convenience store became the scene of a homicide.
Tierrell Martin, 20, of Dobbins Heights, was fatally shot around 12:15 a.m. Wednesday in the store’s parking lot, according to Detective Capt. Randy Dover. He said seven shots were fired, but Martin was only struck once and died at the scene.
Chief Scott Waters said investigators had been working through the night and all day to identify a suspect and make an arrest in the case.
Investigators had initially charged one man in the fatal shooting, but video evidence proved he was not the perpetrator and he was released from custody late Wednesday morning, Waters said.
As of press time, police had not yet identified a suspect.
Martin’s body was taken to Chapel Hill for an autopsy and investigators are hoping to learn more.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is assisting in the investigation.
On Wednesday morning, neighbors gathered at the Circle B to share rumors and information about the shooting. Near the gas pumps where Martin was shot, someone had poked a smiley-face balloon and bouquet of artificial flowers into a Pepsi sign.
“I heard (the shooting) way down the street,” said Douglas McDonald of Hamlet, who was in his backyard playing spades at the time. “That’s all I could hear was bow, bow, bow, bow, bow.”
He pointed a rusty blood stain running down the parking lot and into the street.
“That’s going to be a memorial,” McDonald said. “Can’t wash that away.”
Investigators ask that anyone with information pertaining to the case contact the Hamlet Police Department at 910-582-2551 or Richmond County Crime Stoppers at 910-997-5454.
Martin had just been released from jail on June 19 after serving nearly two weeks on a June 8 conviction of possession of stolen goods, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction. Richmond County Jail records show he had been behind bars since Oct. 17, 2016 and that he was served warrants four times while in jail.
The same day he was convicted, several other charges — possession of a firearm by a felon, felony conspiracy and robbery with a dangerous weapon — were dismissed by the district attorney’s office, court records show.
Martin was accused of having a stolen gun at the scene where Glen Joseph McCray was accused of shooting another man outside the Hamlet Food Mart — less than half a mile from where he was killed — just after midnight June 2, 2016.
According to Dover, Martin was in a vehicle that was shot by McCray in the parking lot of the store. Dover said Martin received minor injuries and fled the scene.
That charge was dismissed on July 28, 2016 because there was not enough evidence, according to court records.
VIOLENT AREA
In the past 14 months, the area around N.C. 177 — including Spring Street, Washington Avenue and Pine Street up to Earle Franklin Drive — has been rife with shootings and robberies.
In March, a 65-year-old man was shot while sitting on his porch.
Before that, the Circle B convenience store was held up by three suspects, at least two of whom were armed, Feb. 26.
The week prior, a car was shot while travelling down Earle Franklin Drive in Dobbins Heights. One bullet went through the passenger window, sending a woman to the hospital with scratches on her face from broken glass.
Earlier in February, a woman had her purse stolen from the Dollar General parking lot by two armed men. That same night, a man was robbed at knifepoint in his own backyard.
Last summer there were two shootings at the Hamlet Food Mart, one on Spring Street, one on Pine Street and a shootout between teens on Washington Avenue where no one was injured — all between May 1 and June 20.
In October, there were four shootings in Hamlet in one weekend and three in Dobbins Heights within four days.
Dover believes that most of those incidents, as well as Martin’s killing, to be gang related.
Christine Carroll contributed to this story.