Second teen charged with murder in killing of Hunter Huss student

Another teen faces a murder charge in the killing of 17-year-old Brandon Heath McCall. First-degree murder warrants have been drawn up for 19-year-old Tyquese Rashaun Hopper. And he won’t be the last, Gastonia Sgt. Jimmy Arndt said.

Police have known of Hopper’s suspected involvement in the shooting that killed the Hunter Huss senior from day one, Arndt said. And they’ve been looking for him ever since. “We spent numerous hours in Cleveland County with them like every night last week,” Arndt said. “We’ve missed him a little bit everywhere.”

Now they’re asking for the public’s help in locating him. Though his address with his mother is 1907 Parkdale Ave., a street over from where McCall was killed, police believe he is somewhere in the Shelby, Lawndale or Kingston area of Cleveland County. “The biggest concern is that he’s out there causing problems and doing some other things and we need to get a hold of him,” Arndt said. “By now he knows he’s on the run.”

Gastonia police are working with Shelby police. A warning has been issued to those helping him. “Those people that are harboring him over there are eventually going to get charged if he’s found in their house without calling the police,” he said.

The 19-year-old has a history of arrests, including assault charges. He was convicted in September for assault on a female and in July 2012 for assault by pointing a gun.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts can call police at 704-866-3300 or Crime Stoppers of Gaston County at 704-861-8000. Crime Stoppers pays up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

“We’d appreciate the help to try and locate him,” Arndt said.

McCall died from a single gunshot wound in what police are calling a drug deal gone bad. The shooting happened at West Third Avenue around 6 p.m. Nov. 9. McCall attempted to flee in his car, but ran the stop sign and crashed into a sport utility vehicle. He died a short time later.

Three days later, Taikeem De’Vuntae Littlejohn, 18, of 419 Rocky Brook Drive, Shelby, was charged with first-degree murder in McCall’s death. More charges on more people are expected in the case, Arndt said.

“The first arrest was just the start and it’s going to be a process and this is just the second part of it. It won’t be the last,” he said.

You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.