Man found fatally shot in SUV he called home. 2 charged with murder, NC police say.
A Gastonia man was found fatally shot in a vehicle, and police said they arrested two men on first-degree murder charges.
Alan Dale Johnson lived in a 2004 Ford Explorer that police found on Monday morning, the Lincoln Herald reported.
Johnson, 37, was found in a vehicle in an empty lot in the 1700 block of East Ozark Avenue, Gastonia police said in a news release.
Police arrested Joshua Cabe Wiley, 39, and Lewis Christopher Detter, 51, both of Lincolnton, according to the release. They were in the Gaston County Jail without bail on Wednesday, jail records show.
Police aren’t saying how the men knew each other or whether investigators know a motive for the shooting.
Johnson was shot in the head, the Gaston Gazette reported, citing remarks by Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell at the suspects’ first-appearance court hearing.
The assailants put ether on Styrofoam and lit it, but the vehicle didn’t ignite, the Gazette reported.
Johnson is survived by his parents; a son; a daughter; two brothers; and nieces and nephews, according to his obituary.
A “gathering of friends” is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at the South Chapel of Greene Funeral Service, 1503 S. York Road in Gastonia. The family will have a private memorial service.
