Dance performance honors Enfield quadruple homicide victims

In August, Janice and James Harris and James and Peggy Whitley were playing their weekly card game when suspects broke into the Harrises' home and killed all four senior citizens, marking one of the small community’s greatest tragedies.

Bonnie Medlin runs the school of dance. She said growing up, the Harrises would watch her perform with their grandchildren.

"They were always so loving. It was always a house of warmth, " said Donald Hilhorst, the Harrises son-in-law. "They were I guess the grandma and grandma of the community."

Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp said last fall that the home might have been targeted and the killings may have been gang-related.

Jim Harris, 88, was a gunsmith and had a federally licensed firearm business that he ran out of his home. Janice Harris, 72, was an administrative assistant for a local builder.

James Whitley, 76, was a farmer and his 67-year-old wife Peggy was a former hairstylist.

Several suspects have been arrested in the case.

Matthew Lewis Simms, 25, of Enfield, was arrested in October, and Keyon Quarice West, 23, and James Edward Powell, 25, both of Roanoke Rapids, were arrested in January. Dontayvious Devonte "Moochie" Cotton, 24, of Weldon, was arrested Monday.

Members of the Harris family watched the performance from the auditorium’s front row.

"The choreography the emotion that was in there was spot on,” Hilhorst said. “The way she portrayed in the choreography is how beautiful and it's just it's beyond words of the kind of people they were.”

Family members said the tragedy is still very difficult and they're asking for the community’s thoughts and prayers.