PINEVILLE, N.C. — A 16-year-old pleaded guilty on Thursday to killing a man after he pulled a gun during a fight last fall.
Maurice Orear was only 15 years old last October when he got into a fight in Pineville with 22-year-old Nikidrien Bailey.
When Bailey put him in a headlock, Orear pulled out the gun he had just gotten from another teenager and shot Bailey several times.
[PAST COVERAGE: Teen accused in Pineville homicide shows up with gunshot wound at hospital]
One of the bullets hit Orear in the leg. He was arrested after he went to the hospital.
Now, Orear is looking at spending at least five years in prison.
Before he was taken out of the courtroom, Priscilla Stowe, a friend of Bailey‘s family, told him he should learn from this tragedy.
“We have too much gun violence. Now that he has thought about it, I guarantee you he would’ve rather took a stick, someone helped him fight and all of them would be living,” Stowe said.
Orear did not say anything before leaving court. His attorney said it was a tragedy that never should have happened.