HICKORY, N.C. — Two Hickory men could each spend up to 82 years in prison after pleading guilty to the fatal shooting of three people at McCroskey's Irish Pub and Grill in 2017, according to a news release from the North Carolina General Court of Justice office.
The office said 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.
Greydon Keith Hansen and Dontray Tyrell Cumberlander, both 28 years old, were given prison terms of 64 to 82 years for their roles in the deaths of Quajuae Alexus Kennedy, Justin Michael Aiken and Cody Manood Bouphavong, according to the office.
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.
The fatal shootings occurred April 7, 2017. Early that morning, officers from Hickory Police Department responded to McCroskey’s for a reported shooting, according to the release.
The office said officers found Bouphavong lying in the parking lot suffering from a gunshot wound. Witnesses at the scene told officers that the victims were shot while they were inside a Honda Accord and the two men responsible left in a Ford Fusion.
Several family members and friends spoke about the victims, offering powerful statements in remembrance of the people they were and the lives they lived.
“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’s father.
Hope Kennedy, Quajuae’s mother, also spoke of the senseless loss of life.
“So many people loved her,” she said of her daughter. “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.”
Both Hansen and Cumberlander declined to speak when given the chance to do so in court, the office said.
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WCNC Charlotte is choosing to show the mugshots of the suspects in this case because the suspects, in this case, have pleaded guilty.