Police search for shooter after death of Hunter Huss senior

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Police are trying to track down the man who gunned down a Hunter Huss senior Saturday night.

They believe 17-year-old Brandon McCall knew the shooter. Police said they think McCall was shot during a drug deal.

Police came back Monday looking for clues. Search dogs seemed to catch a scent in the field along the dead-end road.

Detectives would not say what they were looking for or if they found it.

Someone shot McCall through the driver side door.

He was able to drive away before crashing his car in front of Betty Rhyne's home. Two passengers in the car were not hurt.

Rhyne rushed to help him.

"I just kept telling him, 'Brandon you are going to be OK, son. You are just going to be OK.' That's when he took his last breath," she said.

Neighbors were used to seeing McCall in the community visiting his friends.

"It happened right in my back door," said neighbor Nina Davis.

But Davis said she is not used to seeing crime.

"Senseless, another life taken for nothing," Davis said.

"Why did they do it to that young boy," friend Leechetta Sanders said.

The spirit rock at Hunter Huss High School is spray-painted: RIP Brandon.

McCall's father said he was going to graduate from Hunter Huss High School next year, and planned to go to college.

Stephanie Rhyne had several classes with him and worries about going to school tomorrow

"It's going to be hard," said Stephanie Rhyne, a classmate. "He would be like the life of a class."

She said she heard he was arrested on drug charges in the past and that police believe he was shot during a drug deal.

"It's still no reason to shoot somebody over," Stephanie Rhyne said.

A makeshift memorial was placed at the spot where McCall died.

Some of his friends plan to have a candlelight vigil for him Tuesday night. There will be a vigil at Hunter Huss High School at the same time.

To see more local news stories, click here.

WSOC