HICKORY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The families of the victims in a 2020 double-homicide in Hickory, North Carolina, are offering a $20,000 reward for information on the cold case’s suspects. 

In the shooting on May 10, 2020, Hickory Police say that 20-year-old Xzavion Rashawn Watts and 16-year-old Damarion Isaiah Sharpe were shot in the parking lot of a convenience store on First Avenue SW. 

According to police, Watts and Sharpe had traveled in a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu to the Save More Convenience Store with two females after attending a cookout at a family members home. Once they arrived, the driver and other passenger exited the vehicle and walked toward the convenience store. 

A Black male reportedly walked from the rear of the store toward the Malibu that was parked next to the gas pumps. Officers say he was wearing a gray coat with the hood pulled up and black pants. The male opened the front passenger door and fired multiple rounds from a handgun towards the rear passenger area, hitting both Watts and Sharpe. The shooter fled south toward the rear of the store. 

Catawba County EMS responded and pronounced Sharpe dead at the scene, and Watts was transported to Frye Regional Medical Center where he died from his injuries. 

Investigators believe that someone in the community has information that could lead to the arrest of the shooter. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to call the Hickory Police Department at 828-328-5551 or Investigator Tammie Johnson at 828-261-2619.