A shooting inside a Gastonia home Thursday morning left two people dead and two others critically injured, touching off a manhunt that ended hundreds of miles away in Ohio when the two accused suspects were found dead following a police chase and crash.
Gaston County Police officers responded to a home on Forbes Road at approximately 8:43 a.m. Thursday after receiving a report of gunfire inside the residence. Officers arrived to find four people with gunshot wounds. Two were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were taken to CaroMont Regional Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
Police identified the two people killed as Victoria “Heather” Moore, 50, and Megan “Josiah” Bumgardner, 38. As of Friday, the two surviving victims remained in critical but stable condition, according to police.
Detectives named two residents of the home, Camryn Moore, 26, and Cory Armstrong, 29, as suspects. Heather Moore was Camryn Moore’s mother, and Bumgardner was her uncle, according to WSOC-TV.
Police said they believe everyone involved knew one another and described the shooting as an isolated incident with no ongoing threat to the community. Investigators have not said what led to the violence.
Camryn Moore and Armstrong allegedly fled Gaston County immediately after the shooting. By Thursday afternoon, detectives had obtained warrants charging each of them with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Manhunt Ends in Ohio
Gaston County Police worked with the U.S. Marshals Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force overnight as investigators tracked the pair’s movements across multiple states.
Around 8 a.m. Friday, Ohio state troopers spotted the suspects’ vehicle outside Athens and tried to pull it over, authorities said. Moore and Armstrong allegedly refused to stop, leading to a pursuit through multiple counties.
The chase ended when their vehicle swerved to avoid spike strips deployed in the road and crashed, according to information Ohio authorities gave to North Carolina investigators. Officers then reported hearing two gunshots come from the wrecked vehicle. Law enforcement sent in a drone to look inside and found Moore and Armstrong dead.
Authorities have not said who fired the shots or officially determined the manner of the pair’s deaths. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the pursuit, crash and deaths.
A Shaken Neighborhood
Residents on Forbes Road, in a normally quiet part of Gastonia, said they were stunned by the violence. Loretta Forbes, whose husband’s grandfather built her home in 1914 and whose family gave the road its name, told WSOC-TV she knew the family next door.
“I just kept saying, ‘My God. Oh God,’ coming down the stairs. They seem to be very nice people. It just shakes you up to think that could happen so close by.”
Forbes said she was praying for the family and looking for answers. “I want to know what’s happened,” she said. “I want to know about the family.”
Jennifer Greene, a friend and co-worker of Heather Moore, drove to the home after Moore unexpectedly failed to show up for her shift.
The Gaston County Police Department called the shooting “a tragic act of violence that resulted in the loss of multiple lives and left others critically injured,” adding, “Although the search for the suspects has ended, our investigation has not.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective G. Lancaster at 704-866-3320 or CrimeStoppers at 704-861-8000.
