Suspect in Mount Airy shooting was in U.S. illegally

Mount Airy, N.C. — Authorities said the suspect in the killing of four men outside a Mount Airy TV store was in the U.S. illegally and had been deported once.

Federal immigration officials told The Mount Airy News that 29-year-old Marcos Gonzalez was sent out of the county in 2007 after serving a prison sentence for violating his parole from a kidnapping conviction.

Gonzalez is charged with four counts of murder in the Nov. 1 shootings in the parking lot of Woods TV store, on Worth Street in Mount Airy.

Police Chief Dale Watson says he was disturbed to find out Gonzalez was deported after committing a violet crime.

Investigators haven't determined exactly what caused the shooting, but they don't think the victims were chosen at random.

Gonzalez was convicted of second-degree kidnapping of a minor and second-degree trespassing in 2002, according to state Department of Correction records. He served about 1½ years in prison, then another seven months after violating his parole in 2006. He was deported after completing that sentence.

Information from: Mount Airy News