In North Carolina, it was supposed to be a carefree memorial day weekend for the Halley family.
LaTonya Halley and her nine year old son Leon Halley the third came from out-of-town to visit close friends who live at this home on Satchell Street in Wallace.
“I was in the house with them, he was playing his video games. I was in the kitchen getting ready to make some cupcakes.”
That’s when their vacation turned into a nightmare.
“Then I heard a pop and when I turned around, he collapsed.”
Halley’s son Leon was dead, killed in what police are calling a drive-by shooting Saturday afternoon.
“he was gone the shot just took him and he laid there and he was gone.”
The family says they had driven down from Yonkers, New York and had only been at this home in Wallace, North Carolina for a few hours before little Leon was shot to death. His father says this is the last place he expected anything like this to ever happen.
“Just a typical 9-year-old kid enjoying life and it was cut short.” Said Leon Halley, Jr.
Wallace police have charged 24-year-old Meshan Kentay Macmillan with first degree murder, among other charges.
Police Chief Bobby Maready says MAC-MILLAN was not acting alone and more arrests will likely follow.
“It involves a long-running kind of feud amongst different factions, but the victim was not the intended target. We do know that. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The Halleys say it’s a senseless act.
“I know he’s in heaven looking down on us right now.”
The boy’s parents say they plan to fly back to New York Tuesday and bury their son.
Macmillan is being held without bond until his first court appearance June 1st.
