Loved ones remember ‘gentle giant’ killed in Hillsborough double shooting
De’Anthony Morgan dreamed of owning a fast Dodge Charger with a powerful engine.
He owned his dream car for 11 days before police found his body inside of it.
Morgan, 20, and Zikera Wardlow, 16, were found fatally shot on Cardinal Drive in Hillsborough early Monday morning. The pair are thought to have been killed sometime Sunday night, according to 911 calls released earlier this week.
With no arrests or further updates almost a week later, Morgan’s loved ones are in the dark about what happened to him, they told The News & Observer.
Morgan’s father, Rico McDowell, said his son split his time between La Grange, where his mother lives, and Goldsboro, where McDowell and his wife live. McDowell described the 20-year-old as a loving uncle to his nephews, ages 3 and 6. Morgan’s niece, Ava, was born less than two weeks before his death.
“He was very mild and meek,” McDowell said. “He was a family man.”
According to Morgan’s mother, Pamela Stevenson, he was enrolled in community college in Lenoir County to study engineering. He hoped to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the Army after receiving his bachelor’s degree, McDowell said.
In the meantime, he studied hard and worked at Sanderson Farms and Amazon to save up, according to his parents.
“He went to school, he went to work, he came home and he also had a party life,” Stevenson said. “So he was a typical young man.”
Morgan was a graduate of North Lenoir High School who loved listening to music and gaming on his PlayStation 5, his mother said. At 6 feet, 2 inches, the “gentle giant” towered over his mother, who stands just 4 feet, 11 inches. But above all, his loved ones say, he spent his time giving love to others.
“He’d go out of his way to help anyone,” Stevenson said. “He was just a caring person, a hardworking person.”
McDowell said coworkers, classmates and childhood friends have all contacted him to share the impact his son had on them.
“From what I’ve gathered, he has touched a lot of people in a positive way through his jobs [and] through school,” McDowell said. “They’ve all been reaching out and showing support.”
McDowell and Stevenson said they don’t know much about the circumstances surrounding their son’s death; his mother last saw Morgan the day he died, when he left her house to spend time with friends. He told her he’d be back in time for work the next day, Stevenson recalled.
Wardlow was one of those friends, according to McDowell and Stevenson, who said they hadn’t met her before the killings. But, McDowell said, connecting with the Wardlow family in the wake of their families’ losses has been a balm.
“We’re trying to lift each other and hold each other up,” he said.
And with no arrests in the case as of Friday evening, Morgan’s family is urging anyone with information to come forward.
“My family would like justice. The Wardlow family would like justice,” McDowell said. “This was a senseless act, and the perpetrators need to be held accountable.”
A GoFundMe for Morgan’s funeral costs had raised $2,220 of its $10,000 goal as of Friday evening.
Discovery Charter School in Durham, where Wardlow was a student and basketball player, has also organized a GoFundMe campaign to help her family.
This story was originally published January 4, 2025 at 8:46 AM with the headline "Loved ones remember ‘gentle giant’ killed in Hillsborough double shooting."
