Man charged with friend’s murder after fight over drugs

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A man is behind bars tonight, accused of shooting and killing his own friend. 25-year-old Donte Anthony Caines is charged with second degree murder after investigators say he shot and killed his friend Gary Lydell Fisher at Caines’s New Hanover County home. They say Fisher confronted Caines at his home and started fighting about marijuana. It turned physical and soon be came deadly.

“It surprises me,” said Clarence Nelson, who has friends who live in the mobile home park where the shooting happened. “I mean it surprised me that it was here, because my friends have lived here for probably ten years, and nothing like that has happened here that they know of.”

New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon says sadly incidents like this usually stem from drugs.

“Drugs are the root of a lot of the problems we have,” McMahon said. “Not only violence, but a lot of property crimes, and it’s a shame. That’s why we’re so committed to getting drugs off the street.”

Two other men were inside the home when the shooting happened. McMahon said those men have not been charged, but the investigation is still open.