HAMLET — A man allegedly involved in two late-summer shootings — one as the gunman, one as the victim — has been apprehended.
Richmond County Jail records show 26-year-old Darien Deshawn McNair was booked Tuesday, Jan. 17 on four counts of attempted first-degree murder.
(Note: Jail records show his first name spelled as “Derien,” but other records show it as “Darien.”)
Investigators with the Hamlet Police Department say McNair was identified as the man who pulled the trigger of a 7.62 mm rifle during a shooting on Monroe Avenue in early September.
McNair was allegedly trying to shoot Sherman Cornelius Bass of Rockingham and police say he fired seven rounds into a car occupied by two women that was parked in front of a residence before shooting into the home. No injuries were reported.
Bass is accused of shooting McNair in retaliation the following day in Dobbins Heights.
Both shootings resulted in nearby Monroe Avenue Elementary School being placed on lockdown.
Investigators say McNair was in the hospital recovering from his injuries when warrants were taken out.
Bass was arrested Sept. 26 by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, with help from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Marshals Service. He is being held on a $1 million secured bond on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Online court records show Bass is also charged with a count of attempted first-degree murder.
Bass also has pending charges of felony possession of both cocaine and marijuana, possession with intent to sell or deliver marijuana (with a $25,000 secured bond) and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
In addition to the attempted murder charges, McNair is also charged in the case with four counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling or moving vehicle and a count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
McNair is being held in the Richmond County Jail on a $1 million secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 1.
Online records show McNair already has multiple pending charges in Richmond County from 2022: fleeing to elude arrest with a motor vehicle; possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a Schedule II controlled substance; possession of a firearm by a felon; carrying a concealed weapon; possession of drug paraphernalia; resisting a public officer; and reckless driving to endanger.
McNair also has pending charges in Moore County from 2020: trafficking in a controlled substance by transport; trafficking in a controlled substance by possession; possession of a controlled substance on prison or jail premises.
Records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show McNair was convicted in 2015 on felony charges of breaking and entering and larceny after breaking and entering, and a misdemeanor count of fleeing to elude arrest.
South Carolina court records show he was found guilty on traffic infractions in Marlboro County (2019) and Chesterfield County (2020).
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
