Police seek teen in first-degree murder ***UPDATE: Suspect has turned himself in, says APD***

Posted on by David Forbes

***UPDATE, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 3:40 p.m.: The APD says that the alleged gunman in a Sept. 12 murder at Hillcrest Apartments has turned himself in. Here’s a statement the department issued this afternoon

“At 2 p.m. today (Sept. 29), Marcus Austin Thorpe turned himself in to Asheville police detectives at the Buncombe County Magistrate’s Office. He is being held at the Detention Center under a $100,000 bond for the charge of Attempted First-Degree Murder and under No Bond for the charge of First-Degree Murder.

He is still being processed at the time of this release.

His first court appearance is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Sept. 30 in District Court #2.”***

[ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS]

The Asheville Police Department has charged Marcus Austin Thorpe, 17, with first-degree murder in the Sept. 12 shooting in Hillcrest Apartments that left one man dead and one woman injured. Thorpe is still at large, and considered armed and dangerous.

Detectives issued warrants for Thorpe’s arrest today. In a statement, police report that Thorpe has been seen around Hillcrest since the shooting. Anyone with information about Thorpe’s whereabouts is advised to contact police immediately.

“The public should not approach him directly, as he is deemed by law enforcement to be armed and dangerous,” the statement reads.

Thorpe, a West Asheville resident, is charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Louis Andrew Fleming and attempted first-degree murder for allegedly shooting Fleming’s passenger, Diane Bowditch Logan. Logan was shot in the face, but survived. According to police, the shooting stemmed from an argument over drugs.

Around 4 a.m. on Sept. 12, APD officers found Fleming “slumped over in the driver’s seat of a van that had struck the front porch of building 31.” He was pronounced dead on the scene.

This picture of Thorpe is from a July 2008 breaking-and-entering arrest. He has since shaved his head.

— David Forbes, staff writer

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