Profiles on the victims and suspect

The Daily Reflector

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Here is information gathered so far about the two victims and suspect in Tuesday’s shooting:

Edgar Landon Blackley, 21, majoring in industrial distribution and logistics and business administration at ECU. He lived at North Campus Crossing.

Blackley was an all-sport athlete at J.F. Webb High School in Oxford. He played baseball in Greenville for the semi-professional Tar River Rebels, formerly the Greenville Athletics.

“Landon was a great dude. He was awesome,” said Adam Callis, who went to high school with Blackley. Friend Amanda Nance, an ECU classmate, agreed. “He was a total sweetheart, one of the nicest dudes I ever talked to. If I was hungry, he’d bring me food. This is crazy. He used to invite me to hang out at the pool at Campus Crossings.”

Rebels coach Chad Willis said Blackley had played for the team about three weeks. His brother, Nash, also was on the team. He made a big impression in a short amount of time, Willis said.

“He was very intelligent, soft spoken, knew the game of baseball, was a good first baseman and good in the batter’s box. ... He was an excellent teammate and everybody seemed to like him.”

Charles Andrew “Drew” Kirby, 29, was a manager with Michaelangelo’s Pizza. A lot of his life centered around his work, said Jeff Deering, owner of the business.

“Drew was a great kid. When he finished college at ECU, he jumped on the Michaelangelo’s bandwagon years ago. He was a great person and a great manager who influenced a lot of people at work,” Deering said.

He worked with younger employees and earned their respect as a boss and friend, Deering said. He socialized with friends he made through the shops, including the one he managed in University Commons. “The condolence calls that have been coming in all day long from the customers and families of people who came here and worked here let me know just what a great kid he was,” Deering said.

“I wouldn’t have learned just how much of an influence he had if this hadn’t happened.

“Any one of my employees will tell you what a great guy he was. Most of his friends were connected to work in some way. They can’t believe this happened.”

James Earl Richardson, 32, 1905-5 Kennedy Circle, is a 1996 graduate of J.H. Rose High School, where he played basketball. He is 6 feet 7 inches tall.

He attended Lenoir Community College and went on to play college basketball at Slippery Rock College in 1999-2000. He played professionally for teams in France, Bulgaria and elsewhere in Europe.

He was a player in the Continental Basketball Association in 2006 for the Albany Patroons. (An early report that he was a coach was incorrect.)

A February 2006 report on the Our Sports Central Web site reported the Albany team waived Richardson after he failed to follow coach Michael Ray Richardson's instructions to enter a game.

Richardson the coach tried to put Richardson the player into a blowout win over the Michigan Mayhem, but Richardson the player refused, according to the Web site. Two anonymous sources on the Patroons bench confirmed with the Web site a report in the Albany Times-Union.

"After the game, he said he didn't want to be here," Micheal Ray Richardson told the Times-Union. "So, we released him."

James Richardson's departure left the Patroons with eight players on the active roster.

Police on Tuesday issued two warrants charging him with murder.

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07/10/2009 07:21:40 AM

R.I.P Drew and Landon!

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