4 arrested in connection with man's slaying in Gaston County

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies have arrested four suspects in the shooting death of 30-year-old David Joseph Yates II in Gaston County Thursday.

Deputies with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office arrested David Bridges, 24, James Flanagan, 26, Amanda Hoppel, 25, and Jordan Gigee, 28, near Grover, North Carolina.

All four suspects are charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and first-degree kidnapping.

They're being held without bond at the Gaston County Jail.

Officials told Channel 9 all four suspects are associated with each other and Yates.

The shooting happened on Ivey Drive near the intersection of Ridgecrest Road, which is not far from Crowders Mountain State Park.

Investigators said Yates was found lying in the middle of the street.

A witness said a woman who claimed to be the Yates' girlfriend was standing next to his body.

“She was sitting there with him for, she said, 10 minutes and never called 911," said the witness, who didn’t want to be identified.

She said the girlfriend got a ride from the scene and threw a bag full of syringes into the woods when she was leaving.

A neighbor Channel 9 spoke with said he has seen police in the community at the end of the dead-end street almost daily.

“I’m worried about my grandkids coming outside and playing in the yard now,” Tony Humphries said.

Police said there have been drug problems and property crimes in the area before, but nothing like this.

“It’s unusual for this area to have a homicide,” Chief Joe Ramey with the Gaston County Police Department said.

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