Shots were fired from hillside toward people at Hickory pool party, officials say
Shots were fired from a hillside toward people at a pool party near Hickory on Sunday, authorities announced Wednesday afternoon, saying they had charged three men with attempted murder.
A 20-year-old man was arraigned Wednesday morning on an attempted first-degree murder charge stemming from the mass shooting that killed a man and resulted in 11 others being injured.
Lenoir resident Garon Nathaniel Killian was given a $200,000 bond after prosecutors requested he remain in jail on no bond. And he was already out of jail on bond from charges in a separate shooting in April in Hickory.
Catawba County District Court Judge Mark Killian didn’t say in court why he gave the defendant a lower bond than prosecutors requested. Sheriff Don Brown and Hickory Police Chief Reed Baer later said they were upset that bond was allowed.
The judge ordered Killian to have no contact with victims in the case if he’s released and “not to possess any weapons whatsoever.”
At prosecutors’ request, the judge also ordered Killian to wear an electric ankle monitor, surrender his passport and to obey a curfew of 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. if unemployed.
Killian told the judge he doesn’t have a passport or a job.
Asked by news reporters about the bond, prosecutors declined to comment after leaving the courtroom.
Killian was in the jail in Newton without bond after being charged.
The felony charge involves one victim, court records show, but gives no details about how the victim was hurt.
Sheriff’s investigators announced Killian’s arrest late Tuesday and said they anticipate more arrests.
Police announced Wednesday that Toland Huff Jr. and Ke’andre O’neal Mack, 19, of Hickory, had been charged with attempted first-degree murder. Police said they were searching for both.
Police identified two men charged with providing alcohol to minors as part of the party planning: Raekwon Malik Craig, 21, of Taylorsville, and Patrick Lee Tolbert, 22, of Hickory.
The Catawba Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that investigators also had identified a “person of interest” in the shooting who was arrested in Burke County on robbery charges.
FBI Director Kash Patel sent additional FBI investigators from Quantico, Va., to help with the investigation, which has spanned six counties, authorities said at a news conference Wednesday.
‘Topless pool party’
Law enforcement responded at 11 p.m. Saturday to a noise complaint at a house on Walnut Acres Drive in southwest Catawba County’s Mountain View community.
Less than two hours later, police responded to the shooting in which 58-year-old Shawn Patrick Hood died.
Eight to 10 people were shot, and several others were injured fleeing the party, sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Aaron Turk told The Charlotte Observer at a news conference Wednesday.
Eighty shots were fired, authorities said.
Sunday’s party had been advertised in a social media post as a “topless pool party.”
Users on Facebook and on a Hickory subreddit posted images from Snapchat about the party and video from before people fled to a nearby neighborhood to escape gunfire around 12:45 a.m. Law enforcement released a drone video of the house in question, which is at 1125 Walnut Acres Drive.
Another post on Reddit said attendees would pay $20 to enter and need an ID to enter.
A two-minute video, purportedly of the party, has been circulating on Facebook. The person filming showed a backyard filled with people who appeared to be in their late teens to early 20s drinking and playing games. Some people hid their face as the camera came up to them while others laughed and made jokes. No one in the video was topless.
Defendant was on pre-trial release
Killian had been on pre-trial release on attempted first-degree murder and other charges unrelated to Sunday’s shooting — all the more reason to keep him locked up, prosecutors told the judge on Wednesday.
Killian was free on $100,000 bond on those earlier charges, court records show.
According to a Hickory police news release, Killian was charged in April after officers responded to Catawba Valley Boulevard early on April 6. Shots were fired into a crowd during a fight. No one was hurt, police said.
Hickory police in that April case charged Killian and another man with seven counts of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, going armed to the terror of the public, and discharging a firearm in the city limits.
Killian is accused of firing a Glock .45-caliber pistol at the crowd, according to court documents.
Investigators haven’t released the names of those injured in Sunday’s shooting. The youngest person hurt was 16, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Police said they believe some of those involved in the shooting were gang members, but they’re still determining a motive in the case.
The shots sent many of the party goers through a nearby field and into a neighborhood on Winding Oak Drive.
Police have asked that anyone with video footage from the area contact them.
Authorities are not releasing 911 calls or emergency radio broadcasts pending the investigation, FBI spokeswoman Shelley Lynch said.
Bond amounts “beyond frustrating,” police chief says
Sheriff Brown said he was “outraged” by the bonds given in Killian’s two cases.
“This is frustrating, it’s infuriating,” he said. “But despite my disappointment about this bond, the investigation continues. And I want the community to know that there have been 12 law enforcement agencies working hand in hand pursuing leads and developing suspects.
“They are interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence and processing an extensive crime scene,” Brown said.
“It’s beyond frustrating that someone with pending charges for multiple counts of attempted murder is out in the community in the first place,” said Baer, the Hickory chief.
“It is unimaginable that this same person ... charged with additional charges in a separate incident for attempted murder could be out in our community tonight,” the chief said.
This story was originally published June 4, 2025 at 1:21 PM.