A shooting Sunday morning has become a murder case after Jasper David Thaxton Jr., 36, died of his injuries, Burlington police reported Monday, Oct. 12.
Richard Montgomery Robertson Jr., 30, of Burlington is now charged with first-degree murder.
Investigators have been looking for Robertson since the shooting and have had several leads from the community.
“We ask that people continue to provide us information on his whereabouts,” Assistant Police Chief Brian Long said, “or for him to turn himself in.”
Robertson had been charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury.
Police found Thaxton at 4:56 a.m. Oct. 11 in the 1300 block of Beaumont Court, lying in front of an apartment suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a regional hospital, Long said.
Robertson has a criminal record going back to his teens, and a history of violence, and spent much of the last decade in prison, according to the state Department of Public Safety. He was sentenced to nearly seven years on numerous breaking and entering and larceny convictions, and misdemeanor convictions for an assault on a guard at the Alamance County jail, while he was awaiting trial in 2013. The guard's nose and finger were broken, according to Times-News reports.
Robertson was the victim of a gunshot wound himself in 2009 when he was 19. He was taken to UNC Hospitals for treatment. Investigators weren't sure whether the shot was self-inflicted or an assault.
Anyone with information on Robertson's whereabouts is asked to call police at 336-229-3500. To provide information anonymously, call Crimestoppers at 336-229-7100 or use the mobile App P3 Tips or www.p3tips.com, both with possible cash rewards.
