'Caught in the crossfire’: Gastonia man shot to death while trying to protect toddler

GASTONIA, N.C. — Witnesses said a man was trying to protect a child when he was shot to death Tuesday evening in Gastonia.

The shooting happened just before 6 p.m. at a gas station on Lowell Bethesda Road.

According to a clerk at the gas station, a woman and 30-year-old Eric Glenn realized that they were being followed by a man who has threatened violence against the woman before.

The woman called for help and was told that if they went to a public place maybe the man following them would leave them alone. So they drove to the gas station believing they would be safe.

Police said 27-year-old Marshawn Sanders wasn’t concerned about a public place.

According to officials, 34-year-old Ashley Abernathy drove Sanders around Gastonia looking for his ex-girlfriend and believed he found her with another guy.

That guy was Glenn, but family members said that Glenn was just the woman’s friend.

The clerk told Channel 9 that Sanders was shooting at Glenn’s car and the woman’s 2-year-old son was in the backseat, so Glenn got out and started running so Sanders would stop aiming at the car.

Police said the shooter indeed stopped firing at the car, but instead fired at Glenn. He was hit by bullets at the front door of the store.

The clerk said he tried to help, but it was too late. Glenn was taken to CaroMont Regional Medical Center, where he died.

“Eric was just collateral damage basically," Glenn’s sister LaTonya Lindsay.

She said her brother loved kids and would do anything to protect a child.

“He was protecting the baby and got caught in the crossfire,” she said.

Sanders has been charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon and shooting into an occupied vehicle.

Abernathy didn’t fire shots, but she is also charged with murder and attempted murder.

A judge refused to give bond to either of them.

Glenn was not working at the time of the shooting. His family is now trying to raise money for his memorial service.

Check back with wsoctv.com for updates.

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