'It sounded like fireworks': Bystander says drive-by shooting killed 12-year-old

Sam DeGrave | The Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE — A 12-year-old boy killed early Sunday was the victim of a drive-by shooting, according to a witness account.

An 18-year-old was also shot in the burst of gunfire that Lee Walker Heights residents said sounded like the fireworks that had been going off for hours before the gunshots rang out close to 3 a.m.

The first burst of gunfire was almost indistinguishable from firecrackers, multiple witnesses said. It was the final shots, which came in slower succession, that alerted those nearby to duck for cover.

"When we heard that last 'Pop! Pop! Pop!' everybody got down. When you hear that you, duck. If you're serious, you lay down military style," said a man who told the Citizen Times he witnessed the shooting.

The man spoke on the condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety.

Speaking in an interview near where the shooting happened, the witness said he was no more than about 100 yards from the spot where he said he "saw shots come from a car," which then sped off. He wouldn't elaborate on the make or model of the vehicle.

Asheville Police spokeswoman Christina Hallingse said Sunday she could not confirm witness reports or comment further on the case, which is still under investigation.

Police did not have a suspect in custody, and they had not yet named the boy killed in the shooting.

Police are requesting the help of anybody with information about the shooting, Hallingse said. She urged anybody who witnessed the shooting to contact police.

Based on timing of the gunshots — which at first came rapidly but not quickly enough to be automatic fire — the man who witnessed the shooting said he believes there could have been two gunmen.

Like everybody else in street, which he said was crowded with people after bars close, he took cover when he realized somebody was firing a gun nearby.

"I wasn't sure what had happened until I heard a girl cry," he said. "I could tell from the cry that somebody was dead."

Multiple residents of the public housing complex said Sunday afternoon that they first believed the gunshots to be early Independence Day celebrations.

Lee Walker Heights, like most of Asheville's public-housing complexes, has a single road in and out and that snakes around the complex in a one-way loop.

Amanda Anderson lives in Lee Walker on the opposite side of the loop from where the shooting happened. She was at home when she heard the shots that claimed the life of a child. Like most others, it wasn't until later that she realized what happened.

"I just thought it was fireworks until I saw all the blue lights," she said Sunday afternoon. "There were squad cars all around."

Neither she nor the man who said he witnessed the shooting knew either victim. The man said that the only thing he knew about the 12-year-old boy was that he did not live Lee Walker Heights.

Sunday's was the second fatal shooting in Lee Walker Heights in about as many months. In late April, 21-year-old Devon Jervay Harvin was killed in a shooting there that injured another, who police didn't identify.

A few weeks later, in mid-May, a 24-year-old man was shot in Lee Walker Heights. He was placed in intensive care at the hospital, where he underwent surgery and was being treated for brain swelling as a result of the shooting, a relative told the Citizen Times at the time.

The 18-year-old boy shot Sunday was also hospitalized.

Immediately after the shooting, a small group of people gathered around the 12-year-old boy in the patch of grass where he lay. They waited there and watching as first responders worked, said the man who witnessed the gunfire. He didn't care to see the aftermath of the shooting.

"I didn't go down there," he said, still avoiding the spot Sunday afternoon. "I've already seen enough of that here."

Anybody with information regarding Sunday's shooting can contact police at 828-252-1000 or Crime Stoppers at 828-255-5050.