On the evening of June 2, 2021, two armed men forced their way through the front door of a Fayetteville home and started shooting.
When the gunfire subsided, the homeowner was dead, his teenage daughter had been shot in the leg, and both assailants had fled.
One suspect soon died at a Hoke County hospital from a gunshot wound to the chest, police said. The other was later identified by police using Ring doorbell footage as Calvin Wayne Locklear.
Police charged him with first-degree murder, and Locklear eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the home invasion killing, according to state records.
It was not his first time behind bars. And based on the records I’ve reviewed, it is not clear why he was free that June evening at all.
Locklear was one of more than 4,000 offenders who appeared on the “early release” list prepared to satisfy a 2021 settlement between Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration and left-wing activist groups who sued over …
