CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Willis Gus Lane, the man investigators said started a Charlotte Blood gang “civil war” was accepted a plea deal in the case of a 2018 shootout at a Fort Mill apartment complex.
Lane pled guilty to a reduced charged on assault and battery with a high and aggravated nature and was sentenced to 12 years in prison with a credit of 475 days of time served.
On September 21, 2018, Lane was arrested on attempted murder charges and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.
Two days prior to his arrest, investigators said Lane traveled from Charlotte to Fort Mill, laid in a ditch at The Willows apartment complex and waited for Isiah Kurzey and MaKayla Moyler to appear in a car so he could shoot them.
Kurzey was shot in the face, Moyler in the arm, both survived.
A total of ten Blood gang members were arrested for the shootout including the victims, who were charged with possession of a stolen firearm and unlawful carry of a pistol.
Evidence presented by prosecutors in Thursday’s plea deal hearing shows the moments Kurzey and Moyler were shot.
Prosecutors also showed materials dated before and after the shooting in Lane’s cell phone which showed him with several firearms, lyrics he penned about shooting people and text messages bragging about shooting Moyler and Kurzey.
“This was something he planned, researched and tracked these people down,” a state prosecutor told a Judge during Thursday’s hearing.
Meanwhile, the defense and Lane’s family painted him as a want to be thug who only pretended to be a gangster.
“Through him playing with that lifestyle he developed real enemies,” said Lane’s attorney.
Lane apologized to the court while seeming optimistic about his future.
“I look forward to being a father and I plan to further my education and mentor young kids to keep them from making the mistakes I did.”