3 dead after chase ends in crash into Shelby home, officials say

SHELBY, N.C. (WBTV) - Multiple fatalities were reported early Sunday morning after a truck crashed into a house on Suttle Street in Shelby.

The incident started in Blacksburg, S.C., according to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

According to deputies, dispatch received a call around 12:55 a.m. that a white pickup truck was following the caller’s Dodge Charger and shooting at the car in the area of Bridges Road.

After the chase reached North Carolina, the 911 call was transferred around 1:07 a.m. to the Cleveland County dispatch center.

Deputies from Cleveland County found the cars on Earl Road at Highway 74 and tried to stop the suspects. They said the truck fled by running a red light, headed onto Highway 74 West, then turned onto Dekalb Street before turning off their lights.

According to deputies, they lost sight of the truck momentarily and then found it crashed into the home.

The homeowner said that after nearly 50 years of living in the home on Suttle Street, he’s glad to still have his life. Others in the neighborhood said the incident was unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

“What I see is a lot of destruction and a lot of craziness,” neighbor Franklin Batten said. “I never seen bodies before or people die in an accident like this before I never witnessed it in my life.”

Officials with the Shelby Police Department said six males were in the car at the time, five between the ages of 15 and 20 and one whose age is unknown but believed to be in that range.

Officers say three of the men have died, three were taken to the hospital, and one was released. No one in the car that was being chased was hurt.

A police report identified 20-year-old Keandre Montez Kirkland, 20-year-old Fabian Antwan Crosby, and 18-year-old Elijah Priester as the three people who died.

Two juveniles and a 19-year-old were the three others who were hurt.

“Given the relentlessness with which these suspects pursued and shot at the victims, it is a miracle that no one in the victims’ car was injured. I am proud of the joint effort between all the involved agencies to work through this investigation,” said Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman.

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