Gastonia men charged in fatal home invasion

Two men have been charged in the 2021 killing of a Gastonia man, who was shot in his home during an apparent robbery.

Elijah Ajani Hill, 19, and Jacquez Tyjuan Morrison, 20, both of Gastonia, were both charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon in the death of 30-year-old Trakus Pratt.

Hill and Morrison are accused of going to Pratt's home on Raindrops Road on June 12, 2021, and breaking in with plans to rob Pratt, said Assistant District Attorney David Franceschelli.

Pratt, his girlfriend, and a child were in the house, and Pratt was shot twice in the head.

Franceschelli asked that Hill and Morrison be held without bond, and District Court Judge Donald Rice granted that request.

Hill and Morrison are not the first to be charged in the case, however. Three other people, including a teenager, were wrongfully accused of killing Pratt and held in jail for more than seven months without a trial before prosecutors dropped the charges. Gaston County District Attorney Travis Page cited "newly discovered evidence" when he dismissed the first-degree murder charges Thursday, Feb. 24, against then-22-year-old Kenya Partlow, Cameron Santell Durham, 18, and another man who turned 18 while in jail.

Hill and Morrison face prison sentences of life without parole if convicted as charged.

Reporter Kara Fohner can be reached at 704-869-1850 or at kfohner@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gastonia men charged with murder in home invasion