Home Local News Three charged in Hamlet attempted murder

Three charged in Hamlet attempted murder

ROCKINGHAM — Three people are facing charges after allegedly robbing and shooting a man earlier this month.

According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call of a gunshot victim on North Street in Hamlet on Wednesday, July 18.

When first responders arrived, they found an individual with injuries who was treated and initially taken to FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital-Richmond in Rockingham, but later flown to a trauma center.

According to a warrant for one of the defendants, 24-year-old Brandon Tre Nightingale of East Rockingham, the victim was robbed of a revolver.

Nightingale was arrested and charged July 19.

Investigators say two other defendants, 21-year-old Hunter Wayne Meece and 31-year-old Melissa Kay Field, both of Rockingham, fled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They were arrested and extradited back to Richmond County.

Records show they were both booked into the Richmond County Jail July 27.

Nightingale, Meece and Field are each charged with one felony count each of robbery with a dangerous weapon and attempted first-degree murder and are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 8.

Online court records show Nightingale has pending misdemeanor charges of simple possession of both Schedule III and Schedule IV controlled substances.

Neither Field nor Meece have any other pending charges.

Nightingale was convicted in Rowan County of simple assault or affray in February of 2014, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.

In October the same year, he was convicted in Mecklenburg County of one felony count each of breaking and entering and larceny after breaking and entering.

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His probation on the latter two charges was revoked and he spent three months behind bars.

Records show Meece was convicted of misdemeanor larceny and violation of a protective order in 2016.

The following year, he was convicted on misdemeanor charges of larceny of a motor vehicle and larceny.

In 2018, Meece was convicted of attempted breaking and entering, a felony. His probation was revoked and he was incarcerated from January to April of 2019. Meece was back in prison on a post-release revocation in July of that year and was released in March 2020.

Field’s record also dates back to 2014, when she was convicted on two counts of larceny by a servant or employee.

In 2017, records show Field was convicted of possession or distribution of a meth precursor and misdemeanor larceny, followed by two counts of misdemeanor larceny in 2018.

Her probation on the meth charge was revoked when she was convicted of larceny from the person later that year and she was imprisoned for nine months.

All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

 



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