April 23, 2021- 11:00 a.m.
An arrest has been made in the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old boy in Hickory. Court documents obtained Friday morning confirm Douglas Wilson was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Zakylen Greylen Harris.
Harris was riding in the car with his mother and two other children when he was shot and killed. It happened around 11:12 p.m. Wednesday along Tate Boulevard SE near 19th Street SE. The other children in the car were age 1 and 6.
Hickory Police Captain Jeff Young says the mother told investigators that she put her turn signal on and went into the right lane, in the path of the SUV.
7-year-old boy fatally shot while riding in car with his mother in Hickory, N.C.
“She said that she cut the person off, but not intentionally,” Young said.
That’s when the mother, according to Young, heard someone yell and saw the blonde woman in the SUV’s passenger seat. A moment later, there was a muzzle flash.
“Her back glass broke,” said Young. “She looks back and sees that her son was shot.”
The mother pulled off to the side of the road and the SUV kept going “at a high rate of speed,” said Young.
Hickory Police asked for the public’s help in the case. The video below shows the victim vehicle turning on to Tate Boulevard, as the suspect vehicle pulled up behind them.
“I can tell you this – that the men and women of the Hickory Police Department will act tirelessly to see that justice is brought to the coward that did this – that’s how i feel about it,” Police Chief Thurman Whisnant said after the deadly shooting.
The suspect vehicle was described as a small, dark-colored SUV. Police believe there was more than one occupant, including a woman with blonde hair in the front passenger seat.
Authorities say it was a random act of violence.
“This was a senseless act of violence and there’s no excuse for this,” Whisnant said.
Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Hickory Police Department at 828-328-5551.
