On Tuesday June 25, 2019 Eddie Frank McLaurin II plead guilty to Second Degree Murder, Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill Inflicting Serious Injury, Conspiracy to Commit First Degree Murder, (2counts) Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Kill, (3counts) Attempted Murder, and Domestic Terrorism. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison. This stemmed from a January 18, 2014 shooting in Laurinburg, North Carolina where one person was killed and another injured in a drive by gang-related shooting. There had a been a series of shootings, and acts of violence between two groups identified as Crip and Blood gang members leading up to this shooting. A gang Expert from the Cobb County Georgia District Attorney’s Office, and members of the Laurinburg Police Department Gang Unit worked together to validate members of these groups and provide a report for the Court.
This is the first known conviction in North Carolina using the North Carolina Terrorism General Statute for a gang related shooting. North Carolina does not have a substantive charge for a gang related shooting. North Carolina General Statute 14-10.1 provides that a person is guilty of a separate offense of terrorism if the person commits an act of violence with the intent to either; Intimidate the civilian population at large or an identifiable group of the civilian population.
