Insets, from left: Jaelen Drum (Gaston County Jail) and Thomas Lark (Lincoln Herald). Background: Gaston County police investigate after Drum allegedly shot Lark to death in North Carolina (WSOC/YouTube).
A North Carolina man is accused of shooting and killing his neighbor who was returning home from the grocery store with items for a Labor Day cookout after they had a fender bender.
Jaelen Drum, 25, stands accused of second-degree murder in the death of 57-year-old Thomas Lark in Mount Holly, a Charlotte suburb.
The Gaston County Police Department said in a press release that officers responded around 8:42 p.m. Monday to a shooting in the 2000 block of Grandhaven Drive.
When cops arrived, they found Lark dead from gunshot wounds outside Drum's vehicle. Drum remained at the scene and was taken into custody.
Drum allegedly shot Lark to death after they got into a minor car accident. Drum claims self-defense.
"I do apologize," Drum said during his arraignment, according to a courtroom report from local Fox affiliate WJZY. "I was just protecting myself, and I need to see my wife and my baby."
Lark's wife, Julie Lark, told the TV station she heard a loud noise outside her home but thought it might be fireworks.
"About maybe 10 minutes later, I get a loud knock on the door from my neighbor and she says, 'Miss Julie, you got to come now. Mr. Thomas, he's been shot.'"
Julie Lark said she ran out and saw her husband shot in the street near their home. She then spoke with Drum.
"He said, 'I told your husband to back up and he didn't back up, so I shot him,'" she said in an interview with local ABC affiliate WSOC.
Police rejected Drum's self-defense claim and arrested him.
Thomas Lark spent nearly 15 years as a reporter and editor for the Lincoln Herald. He covered everything from local government to schools to sports, according to publisher Jay Dellinger.
"Some stories involved major issues affecting our area. Others were about an individual or organization that might never have received much public attention without someone taking the time to tell their story," Dellinger wrote in a tribute article.
The victim's wife called it a "senseless act" against a man she described as the "gentlest, most kindest soul you could ever meet" who enjoyed watching the hummingbirds outside his home. He would have turned 57 on Saturday.
"I haven't processed this," she told WJZY. "All I know is my husband went out to get some tomatoes, onions and hamburger buns and 10 minutes later he was gone."
Drum is at the Gaston County Jail without bond. His next court date is set for Sept. 29.