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Corinth Holders student dies in shooting at Wendell home

A 15-year-old freshman at Corinth Holders High School died at a Wendell home Friday night after a gun went off and shot him, the Johnston County Sheriff's Office said.

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WENDELL, N.C. — A 15-year-old freshman at Corinth Holders High School died at a Wendell home Friday night after a gun went off and shot him, the Johnston County Sheriff's Office said. 

According to investigators, Robert Keith Furey, 55, of the 200 block of David Road, was showing Nick Exley a gun about 9:30 p.m. when it went off and fatally injured him. 

Exley's family told WRAL that Furey's home is directly across the street from where Exley lived with his grandmother. 

"He was a 15-year-old boy that had his whole life ahead of him," Exley's aunt, Cynthia Perry, said. "School, college, girls, family, and now he's gone. And he doesn't have that chance any longer."

Exley's uncle, Brad Exley, said Nick was a rambunctious, caring young man. 

"I'll miss him greatly," Brad Exley said. 

Furey has been charged with voluntary manslaughter in the incident. He was being held in the Johnson County jail Sunday under a $250,000 bond.

No other information about the incident, including the type of gun Furey had, has been released.

Furey has three convictions for driving while impaired, most recently in October 2011, according to state Division of Adult Correction records.

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