On March 17, 2024, 19-year-old Ashanti Mariah Monk of Angier, North Carolina, was shot and killed during a large party on Sundowner Lane. Deputies responded to multiple 911 calls around 1:47 a.m. about shots fired at a gathering of more than 100 people and found Monk on the ground with a gunshot wound; she was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other attendees — a 21-year-old man from Fuquay-Varina and a 19-year-old woman from Dunn — were also wounded and treated at Central Harnett Hospital before being released by March 19.

On March 22, 23-year-old Darien Wellington Gayle of Dunn was arrested after a car and foot chase that ended on East Townsend Street in Dunn. He faces multiple charges including one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, numerous counts related to discharging a firearm into occupied property, possession of a firearm by a felon, and fleeing to elude arrest. Gayle is being held without bond at the Harnett County Detention Center. Monk’s family and friends held a funeral service on March 23, 2024, at Dafford Funeral Home Chapel in Angier and interment at Resthaven Cemetery in Dunn.

What anyone at the party or nearby that night remembers might help investigators, and those with information are urged to come forward.