KINSTON, N.C. — Two men are behind bars and two more are sought in connection with the murder of a Kinston teen.
Police arrested the pair in the early Monday morning after Antonio Lorenzo Hines, 18, was found dead in a church parking lot on Sunday afternoon.
Police found Thomas Maurice Bullock, 20, and Tyrek Rashaad Leach, 17, at a residence on Fairfax Drive and arrested the two men for the murder of Hines, officials say.
The shooting happened around 5:15 p.m. Sunday when Kinston Police responded to a shots fired call at Westside Free Will Baptist Church.
Upon arrival, officers found Hines in the parking lot behind the church with multiple gunshot wounds.
School officials say Hines was a rising senior at Kinston High School. So far, there has been no word on a possible motive.
“I can’t quite grasp that,” said Leonard Palmer, Hines’ band director at Kinston High School. “He was the talented musician. Not only did he play the synar, he played the drum set and he played piano.”
Hines was set to graduate next year. His mom said he wanted to join the Marines and leave Kinston.
“He said it would be better for him to do something positive instead of being out here in the streets and I was all for it,” Hines’ mom said. “I just miss his company. I miss everything about him.”
Bullock and Leach were placed in the Lenoir County Jail under no bond.
Two other men are still wanted by police.
Warrants for an open count of murder have been issued for Jaquel Daquan Lawson, 20, and Christopher Daquonne Hembry, 19, police say.
If you have any information on the location of Lawson and Hembry, you’re asked to call the Kinston Police Department at 252-939-3160, The TIPS Line at 252-939-4020, or Lenoir County Crime Stoppers at 252-523-4444— WNCT and The Associated Press contributed to this report
