News (USA)

Suspect with possible white supremacist ties arrested in shooting of gay man

Suspect with possible white supremacist ties arrested in shooting of gay man
Current photos of suspect Kenneth Morgan Stancil III.
Current photos of suspect Kenneth Morgan Stancil III.

The suspect in a Goldsboro, N.C., campus shooting on Monday was arrested early Tuesday morning in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Suspect Kenneth Morgan Stancil III shot his victim on the campus of Wayne Community College on Monday morning. The victim is a gay man and Stancil might have white supremacist leanings.

Chuck Tobin, left, and his boyfriend Ron Lane, right. Lane was fatally shot by a campus shooter on April 13. In what appears to be an unrelated case, Tobin disappeared last July and was found dead in November.
Chuck Tobin, left, and his boyfriend Ron Lane, right. Lane was fatally shot by a campus shooter on April 13. In what appears to be an unrelated case, Tobin disappeared last July and was found dead in November.

Stancil following his arrest in Florida.
Stancil following his arrest in Florida.

Stancil was taken into custody by Volusia County Beach Patrol officers after he was found sleeping on the beach, a violation of local ordinances. He was found with a knife. Stancil is being held without bond and Goldsboro police have said they’ll work with local authorities in Florida to have him brought back to North Carolina.

The Wayne Community College campus was placed on lockdown Monday after Stancil’s shooting and the death of victim Ron Lane, a longtime employee of the college.

Police have said they do not believe the shooting was random. At a press conference on Tuesday morning, reported by news station WITN, police said the incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime. Police also said the face tattoo was completed as recently as Saturday. They are investigating it’s “possible connection to white supremacy,” the news station reported.

Stancil, 20, was a recent student at Wayne Community College apparently studying welding. He is an Eagle Scout graduated in 2013 from Southern Wayne High School. At the college, he had a work-study position in the print shop, managed by Lane, an 18-year employee of the college. News station WNCN reports that Lane recently fired Stancil, according to a relative of Lane.

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Debbie Jean Edwards Stancil, who identified herself as the suspect’s mother, messaged WNCN via Facebook. She confirmed Stancil had been fired by Lane.

“I have the letter that showed he was terminated without consent,” Debbie Stancil told the news station, adding that Lane had “made inappropriate sexual advances toward him.”

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Stancil following his arrest in Florida.
Stancil following his arrest in Florida.

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Many mainstream news outlets had failed to mention Lane’s sexual orientation, despite the fact that Lane had recently been in a long-term relationship with a man who went missing last July and was found dead in November.

It was only when Stancil’s mother accused him of untoward advances that most media began to mention Stancil’s sexual orientation.

In what appears to be an unrelated incident, Lane’s boyfriend, Charles “Chuck” Tobin, 28, disappeared and was reported missing last July.

According to a statement at the time from a family member, Tobin’s body was found in November in a wooded area near his brother’s home; family said that police did not suspect foul play and also said the death seemed to have been caused by a fatal accident.

One online news outlet is reporting that Kenneth Stancil’s Facebook page, now deleted, had “WhiteKnight” as its alias and contained white supremacist material. He identified himself as “Enforcer at White Pride” in the job section of the profile, with likes for “Adolf Hilter,” “National Socialist Movement” and “Angry Aryans,” a neo-Nazi music group.

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qnotes has not been able to independently verify that the Facebook profile belongs to Stancil or other information about Stancil’s alleged white supremacist leanings. Stancil’s face tattoo, however, includes the number “88,” a well-known neo-Nazi abbreviation for “Heil Hitler.” An iron cross and the word “brotherhood” also appear in his neck tattoo, also well-known neo-Nazi symbols.

On Twitter, one user released what she said was a freshman yearbook photo of Stancil, along with another photograph missing Stancil’s newest tattoo on his left eye.

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