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19-year-old Johnston County gas station employee stabbed to death, man charged with murder

One person died in a stabbing Friday evening inside a gas station in Johnston County.

Posted Updated

By
Eric Miller
, WRAL multimedia journalist
GARNER, N.C. — A man was charged with murder after a 19-year-old was stabbed to death Friday inside a gas station in Johnston County.

Around 5 p.m., deputies with the Johnston County Sheriff's Office responded to the Murphy Express along N.C. Highway 42, where they found a 19-year-old employee with stab wounds. William Hayden Fitzpatrick, 19, of Clayton, died at the scene.

Alexander Leon Herrera, 18, of Garner, was charged with murder, first-degree kidnapping and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

He was being held in the Johnston County Jail without bond.

The Johnston County Sheriff's Office said the crime was random, and that Herrera and Fitzpatrick did not know each other.

Before Herrera's arrest, deputies said they found a young man hiding in the bushes outside the station and put him in handcuffs.

A customer described the traumatic scene where she saw the employee leaving the bathroom with stab wounds. A 911 call was made, but it was too late to save the employee.

Sky 5 flew over the scene, which showed caution tape around the building and gas pumps.

The business is located near Interstate 40 on a busy stretch of N.C. 42.

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