Man arrested in connection with fatal shooting at North Carolina fundraiser

SALISBURY, NC — A man was arrested in connection with a shooting at an outdoor fundraiser in Rowan County, the sheriff's office said Friday.

One person was killed and another injured in the September 8 shooting.

On Friday, officers arrested 24-year-old Adrian Nicholas Romero-Mandujano in connection with the case. He is accused of stealing two guns from the scene of the shooting.

Investigators are still working to identify the shooter in this incident.

Officials say Mandujano took an AR-15 rifle and a handgun from the crime scene. He was charged with destruction of evidence and taken to the Rowan County Detention Center on $2,500.00 bail.

At around 9 p.m. Sunday, emergency responders responded to Ranchos Los Gavilanes, an outdoor venue on Oak Mountain Road, which is in a rural area of ​​Rowan County, about a 20-minute drive west of downtown Salisbury. A person who had been shot in the chest was taken by medical personnel to Novant Health Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, where he was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff's office. He was identified as 19-year-old Rafael Varela Angeles.

A second person was transported to Novant Health Rowan Medical Center in a private vehicle. That person's condition was listed as stable.

“This address is frequently used as an open event center and some type of fundraising event with a large crowd was taking place there at the time,” the Rowan County Sheriff's Office said in a written statement.

Through an interpreter, Socorro Castro, who lives near the scene of the accident, spoke of the trauma of the night. From her house, she said, she heard the teenager's mother calling, “Where is my son? Where is my son?”

The teenager died a short time later. She hopes that more security personnel will be available at future events.

Amid the chaos was a party guest who did not want to give her name. She said the event was meant to raise money for a man with cancer. Instead, families ran away in fear.

“Everyone was just having fun. Out of the blue … we heard at least five or six gunshots,” the woman said. “It's a sad turn of events. I don't think anyone deserved what happened. I don't think anyone expected it.”

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Lt. Ryan Barkley of the Rowan County Sheriff's Office at 704-216-8711 or call Rowan County Crime Stoppers at 1-866-639-JAIL (5245).

Mandujano is currently free on bail.

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