He didn’t shoot, but accomplice in 2020 University City homicide sentenced to life
A Charlotte man who didn’t fire a gun in a deadly University City shooting in 2020 but acted as an accomplice was sentenced to life in prison without parole, a Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office news release said.
A jury on Wednesday found Joshua McClain, 32, guilty of the first-degree murder of LaMar McNeil, 43, on March 10, 2020, at an apartment complex off Wit Way, the news release said.
McNeil arrived at the complex with a friend for a “drug transaction,” with McClain, the news release said. McClain got in the back seat of a vehicle when another person, Darian Huffman, 33, opened the driver’s door to try to steal a backpack from McNeil.
“After a brief struggle, Huffman fired one shot that struck McNeil in the chest, then he fled on foot,” the news release said. “McClain took the backpack and also fled on food.”
McNeil called 911 from an apartment, but later died at the hospital from his injury.
Police later found a backpack in woods near McClain’s home during a search, and a 9mm pistol in his car. The gun had DNA from McClain and Huffman on it and matched the bullet recovered from McNeil, the news release said.
Huffman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2021 and was sentenced to 13 to 17 years in prison, according to North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections records.
This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 1:44 PM.
