Teacher on 3 former students killed: ‘Our heart at Laney is hurting so badly’

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The Laney High School community is grieving after three former students were killed in two separate incidents this weekend.

Dana Wilson, 18; Ryan Menke, 18; and Montreal Holmes, 28, were all killed on Sunday. Richelle Dombroski said she taught Holmes American History at Laney ten years ago.

“He made me a better teacher, and he made me a better person,” Dombroski said. “Teachers form bonds with students over their whole career. Montreal touched my heart.”

That’s why when she found out that Holmes had been shot and killed, her heart ached the way a mother’s does.

“I can’t even explain it,” Dombroski said. “I’ve lost other students, and it’s been traumatic, but Montreal had such a piece of my heart.”

Right before graduation, Dombroski said Holmes gave her a card she now holds close to her heart.

“He thanked me for helping him and motivating him, and even said I was like a mother to him,” Dombroski said.

They are words she has never forgotten.

“I knew that was the most respectful thing Montreal could have ever said to me, because he was so close to his mother, and he lost her to cancer,” she said.

Dombroski said she never expected to lose him so soon in such a tragedy.

“I know he was a good person, and I’m devastated,” Dombroski said. “I’m also devastated that we don’t know who did this when there are witnesses.”

Lumberton Police say two other former students, Dana Wilson and Ryan Menke, were also killed Sunday in a crash with a suspected drunk driver.

“I can tell you that our heart at Laney is hurting so badly,” Dombroski said. “We lost three students to acts of violence.”

They are tragedies she said she will never understand, but she hopes the community understands who Montreal Holmes was.

“He was not a gang banger or a thug, and I need people to understand that that wasn’t him. But sometimes we put people in boxes based on how they look instead of looking in their hearts, and if people would have looked in Montreal’s heart, it would have been different,” Dombroski said.

She said he was a student, a father, and man with a heart of gold whom she saw as a son.

Police said that although there was a crowd of people near the shooting, they still do not have a suspect. If you know anything, please contact Wilmington Police.