Conover Man Gets 16 Years For Fatal Shooting Of 7-Year Old Boy

A Conover man will spend at least 16 years in prison for shooting death of a 7-year-old from Hickory.

Douglas Mason Wilson, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle in the death of 7-year-old Zakylen Greylen Harris. Wilson entered the plea during Catawba County Superior Court on Tuesday.

Zakylen Harris was shot while riding in his mother’s car on Tate Boulevard around 11 p.m. on April 21, 2021.

Wilson was given a sentence of 16 years to 20 years in prison. Wilson has been in the Catawba County Detention Center for a little more than three years. Including Zakylen, there were three children in the car at the time. The other children were not injured.

According to Hickory Police the murder was an act or road rage. Whitney Harris, the mother of the deceased nearly struck a vehicle that Wilson was driving. Wilson responded by honking his horn and hitting the brakes. Whitney Harris yelled at Wilson’s car and the two shouted back and forth until a gun was fired.

The Hickory Daily Record contributed to this story