1 killed, 2 wounded at busy intersection

Guy Lucas And Paul B. Johnson, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·2 min read

Apr. 15—HIGH POINT — One man was killed and two people were injured in an exchange of gunfire between two vehicles late Tuesday night at a busy city intersection.

The High Point Police Department received calls shortly before 10:30 p.m. about shots being fired between two vehicles in the area of Wendover Avenue and Eastchester Drive. Witnesses reported that one vehicle then went south on Eastchester while the other turned onto Skeet Club Road.

Someone in a silver Nissan Maxima soon flagged down a police officer at the intersection of Eastchester and Ambassador Court, a short distance south of the Interstate 74 interchange. The three people in the car all had gunshot wounds.

The back-seat passenger, Johnneil R. Emerson, 22, of High Point, was taken by Guilford County EMS to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to the torso.

Because of the time it would take for EMS to arrive for the other two, whose names police did not release, officers took them to High Point Medical Center, police said. The driver, a 30-year-old woman from High Point, was treated for a gunshot wound to her torso and was listed in stable condition. The front-seat passenger, a 27-year-old man from High Point, was treated for wounds to his legs and was released.

Police and U.S. marshals arrested Justice S. McLaurin, 26, of High Point and J'Mariuis D. Howze Jr., 23, of High Point on Wednesday. McLaurin and Howze were each charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.

An additional count of attempted murder was drawn on each of them after investigators learned that they previously had tried on Saturday to shoot one of three people who were shot Tuesday.

Both were being held at the Guilford County Jail with no bond allowed.

Police said that at this point investigators weren't searching for any other suspects.

Officers also found the silver Nissan Altima they think McLaurin and Howze were in during the shooting, and officers applied for a search warrant for a residence in the 3700 block of Bracknell Drive, police said.

Tuesday's gunfire took place at one of the most well-traveled intersections in the city, handling nearly 47,000 vehicles per day, according to most recent city traffic counts.

Anyone with information related to the investigation can contact Crimestoppers of High Point at 336-889-4000.

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul