Arrest made in May murder outside club

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — More than four months after a man was shot to death outside a Wilmington club, police have made an arrest for the crime. Garry Orlando Hines, 18, is charged with the first degree murder of Cornelius Tremayne Blanks, 20, of Burgaw.

Blanks was shot during an early-morning fight May 8 outside Club 609 on Market Street. He died later at the hospital. Another man, Robert Lee McGruder, III, 20, of Leland, was stabbed, but survived.

Wilmington Police investigators obtained a warrant for Hines’s arrest Friday. The US Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested him around 1 a.m. Saturday at the Carolinian Inn, which is just blocks from where the shooting happened back in the spring.

Police say the investigation of the incident at Club 609 remains open. Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Wilmington Police Department at (910) 343-3600. Information may be submitted anonymously through Text-A-Tip. Enter Tip708 and the information, and send to 274637 (CRIMES).