Police have a Charlotte man in custody in connection with Wednesday morning's fatal shooting of a 28-year-old man at the Executive Inn in Rock Hill.

David Andrew Richards, 23, is being held on a fugitive warrant in connection with the shooting death at the North Anderson Road motel, Rock Hill Police Lt. Brad Redfearn said.
York County Coroner Sabrina Gast identified the victim as Damien Wray, 28. Gast said Wray recently had moved to Rock Hill. Court records show Wray recently lived in York.

Wray was taken to Piedmont Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Gast said Wray died of a gunshot wound.

More details about the 7:30 a.m. shooting have been released through a police report obtained by The Herald Thursday. The first officer on the scene found Wray laying on the bed bleeding, the report states. That officer saw a spent shell casing on the floor next to the bed.

Four witnesses were in the room when Wray was shot, the report said. One witness told police he came to the Executive Inn to pick Wray up for work. Someone was waking Wray up when another subject came in the room through an open door, left and returned with the man who shot Wray, the report said.

Charlotte Mecklenburg Police worked with police in Rock Hill to apprehend Richards just before 5 p.m., Redfearn said. Rock Hill Police have a warrant for Richards on a murder charge.

Richards was held in Charlotte and waived his extradition hearing, Redfearn said. Officers plan to bring him to Rock Hill later today.

Police were looking for a white man in a green Jeep Cherokee with a North Carolina license plate in connection with this incident, Redfearn said. The case is still under investigation, he said.

No motive for the shooting has been released, Redfearn said. The victim was found inside a room of the motel, and evidence at the scene suggests he was shot in a room.

The Executive Inn has been on police radar. Redfearn said it's one of the city's target areas addressed in bi-weekly meetings.

"We have been working with the Executive Inn to reduce crime. We've already addressed a lot of crime issues with them," he said. "We can't stop everything from happening, but we can try to be proactive to reduce incidents."

Since January, Rock Hill Police have been called to the Executive Inn 155 times, according to data released by the department Wednesday. The bulk of the crimes reported are societal - disorderly conduct, drunkenness and noise violations. For violent crimes, police responded to seven assault and one strong-armed robbery call this year.

Over the last year, police have investigated 74 incidents in the area of the Executive Inn, Rock Hill Police's online crime map shows. Forty-seven percent of those fall in the societal category and another 27 percent are property crimes, including thefts and damage. Only two violent crimes are reported, this data shows.

The Executive Inn received worldwide notoriety a few months ago when a guest reported that another guest used a snake to assault him. The victim claims the attacker intentionally pried open the snake's mouth and put it in his face. That case will go to trial soon.

Last month, Rock Hill Police investigated a bomb threat and found several knives, a cross bow, rifle, shotgun and gun powder in one of the rooms.

Tenants at the Executive Inn said it's a relatively quiet place with children staying there.

"It's crazy for this to happen here with all the kids," said guest Priscilla Gibson. "It's just crazy."

Gibson and other guests said they didn't know the victim and had heard he checked in earlier the morning of the shooting. Police haven't said if the victim was a registered guest of the motel or how long he had been there before the shooting.

Police continue to investigate the homicide and interview potential witnesses.

This is Rock Hill's third homicide of the year. The first, a hold-up of a gas station clerk on South Anderson Road, happened in late February. The second was a March 14 apparent home invasion on Workman Street.


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