CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. — Two men have been sentenced in connection with the 2017 shooting deaths of three people in the parking lot of McCroskey’s Irish Pub and Grill in Hickory.
Each could spend up to 82 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday in Catawba County Superior Court.
Greydon Keith Hansen and Dontray Tyrell Cumberlander, both 28, were given prison terms of 64-82 years for their roles in the April 2017 deaths of Quajuae Alexus Kennedy, Justin Michael Aiken and Cody Manood Bouphavong. All three victims were 21 years old.
A fourth victim, 20-year-old Cole Brady Ervin, also was shot and injured during the deadly attack.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- DA seeks death penalty against men connected with Hickory pub shooting
- Third person dies after Hickory pub shooting, police say
- Witness helped identify suspects in deadly triple shooting at Hickory pub
Hansen and Cumberlander both pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder, one count of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and one count of discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle during two emotional hearings in front of a packed courtroom.
On the morning of the deadly shooting, Hickory police officers responded to McCroskey’s after a reported shooting and found Bouphavong lying in the parking lot with a gunshot wound. Witnesses told officers that the victims were shot while they were inside a Honda Accord, and the two men responsible left in a Ford Fusion.
Pablo Castillo-Hernandez, the driver of the Accord, told officers that he and his friends were in the car when the Fusion circled the parking lot with a man hanging out the passenger’s window holding an assault rifle. Another man approached the Accord from behind, stuck a gun in the back window and started firing inside the vehicle.
Witness accounts and a cellphone video of the shooting verified that Cumberlander shot into the car as Hansen raised the assault rifle and fired at the vehicle.
Castillo-Hernandez sped away from the scene to get his friends at a nearby hospital.
A little while later, officers with Long View Police Department stopped a speeding car that matched the description of the one that left McCroskey’s. Hansen and Cumberlander were the inside the Fusion. They told officers they had weapons in the vehicle and had been at McCroskey’s. A witness identified the vehicle and the men as the same ones involved in the shooting.
During interviews with investigators, both men admitted to driving around the parking lot of the pub and firing their weapons at and inside the Accord with the victims in it. Inside the car, investigators found a Taurus 9 mm handgun and an M&P .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle. Investigators recovered 12 9mm shell casings and nine .22 caliber shell casings at the scene of the shootings.
Aiken was pronounced dead at Frye Regional Medical Center on April 7, and Bouphavong was taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte where he also died. Kennedy was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center where she died from her wounds on April 8.
>> Reading this story in our app? The new “Follow the Lead” feature allows you to tap the blue tag indicated with a ‘+’ to subscribe to alerts on the very latest breaking news updates.
“I thought one day I’d be giving a speech at my son’s wedding, not giving a victim impact statement in a courtroom,” said Craig Aiken, Justin Aiken’s father. “Justin was loved by everyone. This act of evil has not impacted just me but a lot of other people … We came together to raise a great person who didn’t deserve to die this way. He lost his life because of cowards who thought they were tough because they had guns and decided to shoot up a car with innocent people. I’ll never get to see how (Justin’s) life turns out because of the senseless act of two monsters.”
[WANT TO WATCH ON OUR STREAMING APPS? CLICK HERE]
“No one believes that the result of this plea, or any plea or any trial will be equal to the losses that have been suffered here,” District Attorney Scott Reilly said. “I do believe that this plea will result in these two defendants spending the rest of their lives in prison. My hope is that this plea will give closure to the victims’ families so that they might be able to move forward in their healing process.”
“So many people loved her,” Hope Kennedy said of her daughter, Quajuae Kennedy. “That night, Mr. Hansen and Mr. Cumberlander made a life-altering decision, a decision that can’t ever be taken back and has changed our lives forever. The pain you both brought to our family is indescribable. No parent should ever have to see their child leave this earth before them.”
Cumberlander also did not say anything in court. Defense Attorney Scott Gsell said the defendant indicated he hoped through time and faith, the families of all the victims would forgive his actions.
(WATCH BELOW: DA seeks death penalty against men connected with Hickory pub shooting)
©2021 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
