11-1-2003 North Carolina
GREENSBORO -- Thomas Earl Alston told police he was watching television with his girlfriend Thursday night when there was a knock on the door.
The man at the door -- 28-year-old Chester Kendale Lane -- asked Alston, 32, for a ride, then pulled a handgun, Alston told Greensboro police. The pair, who apparently didn't know each other, wound up exchanging gunfire about 9:15 p.m. outside Alston's apartment at 1008-E Rucker St., Greensboro police Sgt. Jane Allen said.
Neighbors in Brevard Park heard eight to 10 gunshots. Lane dropped to the sidewalk, with two gunshot wounds, one to the chest and another in the right thigh, said Dr. Thomas Owens of the state medical examiner's office. Lane, who has Randolph County ties but whose address is unknown, died minutes later at Moses Cone Hospital.
The investigation continues and no charges have been filed while police investigate Alston's claims of self-defense. Allen said once the investigation is completed -- she's not sure how long that will take -- the case will be presented to the district attorney, who will decide if charges should be filed.
Alston could not be located Friday for comment.
Police are checking to see if Lane was involved in a breaking and entering of a nearby house minutes before the fatal shooting. Officers had been called to the Brevard Park neighborhood and heard gunfire when they were taking a report of a man who broke into a house at 3939-A McIntosh St. and shot at two female residents as they ran off to call police.
The women, whose names have not been released by police, were uninjured. A woman at the house Friday said the victims did not want to comment.
Lane is listed on the state's sex offender registry -- with his address listed as unknown -- for being convicted of taking indecent liberties with a 13-year-old girl in Randolph County in 1994. He served 2.5 years in prison for that charge.
N.C. Department of Correction records also show Lane was convicted of possession of cocaine in 1991 and 2001, larceny in 1998, disorderly conduct in 1999, driving while intoxicated in 1992 and 1998, and receiving stolen goods in 1993. He was listed as an absconder from justice because he had not been reporting to his parole officer, as
ordered, on his latest drug charge.
Relatives could not be located Friday for comment.
The case is the city's 29th homicide of the year. ..more.. by Amy Wolfford Staff Writer, News & Record
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