FROM STAFF REPORTS

A Statesville woman has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a Newton man following an investigation by the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office.

Karla Breanna Freeland, 18, was charged with murder on Tuesday afternoon, according to an ACSO news release. She was ordered held without bond by an Alexander County magistrate. She also faces a felony drug charge after deputies found narcotics in her possession while she was being processed at the jail, authorities said.

Freeland is the second suspect charged in the shooting death of 33-year-old Pang Vueyee.

Hiddenite resident Jason Henry Fidler, 46, is also charged with murder. He was jailed without bond.

Vueyee was pronounced dead at a local hospital on Monday as a result of a single gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said. The ACSO began investigating after responding to the scene of the shooting at 295 Old Mountain Village Drive in Hiddenite at 1:30 a.m. Monday.

The Alexander County Sheriff’s Office expressed its appreciation to the Taylorsville Police Department, Iredell County Sheriff’s Office, N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, Statesville Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations for their assistance in Freeland’s arrest.