The fatal shooting of a gay staff member at North Carolina's Wayne Community College on Monday is now being investigated as a possible hate crime, police told the Associated Press.
Kenneth Morgan Stancil III, the suspected shooter, could be charged with a hate crime after gunning down Ron Lane, his former boss and the college's long-time print shop operator on the third floor of a campus building. Stancil was fired from his work-study position at the shop last month due to repeated absences.
Though staff at the college in Goldsboro said Lane, 44, was gay, investigators would not comment on Tuesday as to why a hate crime is being considered.
"At this time, I'm not prepared to divulge that information," Goldsboro police Sgt. Jeremy Sutton told the AP. Police said Stancil's relationship with Lane was strictly professional.
Police say 20-year-old Stancil, a former student at the college, was calculated in his plan when he walked into the print shop as Lane was arriving at work Monday morning and shot him with a 12-gauge shotgun. He then fled the scene on a motorcycle.
The campus was placed on lockdown and a manhunt ensued for the suspect, described as a white male with a tattoo above his left eye and a goatee. The description was circulated and police alerted law enforcement south of the state after his motorcycle was found abandoned on Interstate 95, the AP reported.
Stancil was apprehended early Tuesday morning when Florida police found him sleeping on a beach in Daytona City.
The tattoo, which Stancil likely got on Saturday, includes the number 88 surrounded by a design that spreads across the left side of his face. According to Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, the tattoo indicates Stancil belongs to a neo-Nazi group that allegedly attacks gays, the AP reported.
Police have not said if Stancil is a white supremacist.
Brent Hood, Lane's supervisor for three years, said he does not think Lane was killed because he was gay.
"I guess from my point of view, he (Stancil) was angry over getting dismissed from his duties," Hood, the college's coordinator of education support technology, told the AP.
"If he had other reasons or motives, it was not clear when he worked here. He worked very well with Ron; he worked very well with my other employees," Hood said.
Stancil, who has no prior criminal record, is expected to appear in court on Tuesday after he is extradited to North Carolina.
