A man pleaded guilty on Friday to shooting several people, including two officers, at a nightclub in Gastonia.
The six were shot on Nov. 12, 2020 at Remedies Restaurant and Nightclub on Union Road.
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Gastonia Police Department Sgt. Eric Nelson and Cpl. Mike Lewis, officers hired to provide security, were trying to de-escalate a fight when someone started shooting in the parking lot, hitting them both. Both officers were shot in the leg and one was also shot in the back.
None of the four other victims were seriously hurt.
Detectives charged Alonzo Lewis Hamilton and Allen Slaughter with six counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon. Slaughter was given a $1.5 million bond.
Prosecutors said several witnesses saw Slaughter fire a gun and that his DNA was found on the weapon. They said there was little doubt that he was the shooter.
On Friday, Slaughter pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Cpl. Nelson said in court Friday that his leg could still be amputated.
“Mr. Slaughter’s disregard for human life when he pulled that trigger robbed myself and the citizens of Gastonia the ability when my injuries forced me to retire from my career that I loved,” he said.
Slaughter will spend 20 years behind bars for the crimes.
The county district attorney gave the nightclub a warning letter in Nov. 2020, saying the Gastonia business was a public nuisance. Channel 9 discovered police were called to the club 201 times in the two years prior to the shooting.
North Carolina’s ABC Commission issued an alcohol suspension order as well, mentioning the shooting and also a pattern of problems at the nightclub, including how Gastonia officers were routinely there around closing time because fights broke out.
>> On Eyewitness News starting at 5 p.m., Lemon will have more information about Slaughter’s co-defendant, as well as a lawsuit filed by officers against the owner of the nightclub
(‘It’s heartbreaking’: 6 people shot, including 2 police officers, at Gastonia club)
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