BREVARD, N.C. — Three months after Charles O’Shields’ son was killed in an argument over a woman, the grieving father found the man charged with his death at a Dollar General store in the North Carolina mountains. Authorities say O’Shields gunned Toby Mathis down among the aisles of cheap merchandise last week and then fled in a getaway car driven by his sister.
O’Shields turned himself in Tuesday to face first-degree murder charge after six days on the run. The local sheriff hopes the surrender ends a feud that has created a body count equal to what the sparsely populated county considers a violent year.
“I’d like to think that everybody involved is at a place where they can take the high ground on this,” said Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney. “It’s another tragic ending to what ultimately wound up being about 45 seconds of bad decision-making in December.”
The acrimony started on a twisty mountain road in December when 20-year-old Joey O’Shields went to confront his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. After a brief argument, O’Shields jumped into the back of a pickup driven by Mathis, who was trying to speed off.
O’Shields tumbled out as the truck was going about 35 mph, and he died at a hospital about three hours later. Mathis was charged with involuntary manslaughter.
Tension between the two families grew during the winter, with both sides reporting problems to the sheriff’s office. Mahoney said things never escalated enough for his deputies to get involved until Charles O’Shields walked inside the Dollar General in Rosman on April 6, shot Mathis, then left in an SUV driven by his sister.
Evidence leaves no doubt the killing was revenge for the death of O’Shields’ son, said Mahoney, who released few other details. He won’t say if the two exchanged words that night or if O’Shields ever directly threatened Mathis before the shooting.
Deputies have also arrested Charles O’Shields’ sister, Dorothy Banks, who investigators said waited outside as her brother went into the store. She is charged with accessory after the fact in connection with a homicide, Mahoney said.
Banks’ attorney didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment, and O’Shields has yet to be assigned a lawyer.
The sheriff said the mountain county of 33,000 usually doesn’t have more than 2 homicides a year. The area about 120 miles west of Charlotte touts itself as the “Land of Waterfalls,” and much of its land is in the Pisgah National Forest. It’s a mostly hardscrabble place, in contrast to the enclaves of million dollar homes in neighboring Cashiers or Highlands.
“To have those lives ended so quickly over something as petty as a girl, you know, I think all those components go to make it a huge tragedy,” Mahoney said. “It saddens my heart to see both of those families turned upside down, two young men whose lives are lost and all for just a very short period of time when cooler heads did not prevail.”
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Collins reported from Columbia, S.C.
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