Hickory police have arrested the second man wanted over the October 14 shooting that killed a 23-year-old man and wounded a 19-year-old, closing a search that had run for more than three weeks. Jamarion Kevonte Lackey, 20, of Hickory, is now in custody, according to Hickory police reporting carried by WHKY. He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.
Source: WHKY / 860 WACB
Lackey was booked into the Catawba County Detention Facility without bond, WHKY reported, citing court records. He was scheduled to appear in District Court today, Thursday, November 12. The charges are allegations: Lackey has not been convicted, and he is presumed innocent unless the state proves its case in court.
What happened on October 14
The case began on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, when Hickory officers were called to reports of gunfire in the 600 block of 14th Street SW, at about 6:40 p.m., according to the Hickory Police Department's earlier appeals, reported by the Hickory Record and other local outlets. Officers found two men with gunshot wounds.
Dionte Jashea Murph, 23, of Hickory, was taken to a local hospital and was later pronounced dead from an apparent gunshot wound. The second victim, Phalen Devon Izard Jr., 19, of Hickory, also reached a local hospital with a gunshot wound that police described as non-life-threatening.
Source: GoFoothills / Hickory Police Department
The first arrest, and the search for Lackey
On Monday, October 19, police arrested the first suspect, Deandre Moore, 18, in Drexel, with help from the Drexel Police Department and the Burke County Sheriff's Office. Moore was charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, and he remains held at the Catawba County Detention Facility under no bond, according to police.
At the time of Moore's arrest, Hickory police announced that Lackey was also wanted in the same case and asked the public for help finding him. Police described him as armed and dangerous, gave his height and weight, and noted a tattoo on his right forearm reading “Loyalty for Life” with an angel. That public appeal stayed open until this week's arrest.
What investigators have not said
Police have not publicly established a motive for the October 14 shooting, and the reporting reviewed for this story does not say what happened in the moments before the gunfire. Investigators have also not said in the latest update where Lackey was taken into custody. Anyone with information about the shooting can contact the Hickory Police Department at 828-328-5551, or Investigator Helderman at 828-261-2621.
First-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder are charges, not convictions. Both Lackey and Moore are presumed innocent, and it will be for prosecutors to prove each charge in court.
Background: how the case unfolded
Hickory is a city of roughly 43,000 people in Catawba County in western North Carolina, at the foot of the Blue Ridge foothills. The October 14 shooting drew a wide response because two young men were shot in a residential street in the early evening, one of them fatally, and because a second suspect then remained at large for weeks while police appealed for sightings.
With Lackey's arrest, both men police named in the case are now in custody. That moves the case out of its search phase and into the courts, where the evidence gathered since October — witness accounts, the scene examination on 14th Street SW, and the records behind the charges — will be tested in hearings.
What happens next
Lackey's first District Court appearance was scheduled for today. From here, the case is expected to move through preliminary proceedings in Catawba County, where a judge will decide how the charges proceed and whether bond is revisited. Awaaz Punjab will follow the court dates as they are set. For now, police have both suspects in custody, no further arrests have been announced in the latest update, and the investigation file remains with the Hickory Police Department.