ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. — A community is grieving after two teens were found dead with gunshot wounds in a rural area of Orange County Sunday.

 

What You Need To Know 

Two teens were discovered dead with gunshot wounds in Orange County Sunday

Authorities are still waiting on more information, but have idenitifed them as 14-year-old Lyric Woods and 18-year-old Devin Clark 

Clark was a student at Eastern High School and a vigil with a balloon release was held Monday night   

 

A couple of men were riding four-wheelers when they found the bodies just before 3 p.m., and the discovery sparked a homicide investigation.

“Through our ongoing investigation, we have information that suggests the two individuals located off Buckhorn Road yesterday are Lyric Woods, 14, and Devin Clark, 18,” Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said in a news release on Monday.

Authorities haven’t released information as to what unfolded in the field where the teens were discovered.

Family members reported Woods missing Saturday afternoon. Clark’s family got in touch with Mebane Police Department Sunday out of concern for his whereabouts, and he was listed as missing, Blackwood said.

“Investigators are still awaiting a report from the medical examiner to confirm the victims’ identities. Although we do not have that confirmation yet, in the absence of any other missing persons matching the descriptions of the individuals located, the tragic but logical conclusion is increasingly clear. This loss is devastating for the victims’ families and friends, and indeed for the entire community,” Blackwood said.

Clark was a student at Eastern High School, and Les Atkins with Alamance-Burlington School System said he was a former football player who would always “be remembered as a kind-hearted, gentle giant who was well liked by his classmates.”

Atkins encouraged families to speak with their kids about the tragic incident to help them work through their grief, and he also expressed his condolences to family, friends, classmates and the community.

“The loss of a student is a difficult and challenging situation that can generate a high level of anxiety and distress in students. During this time, as the school community processes this tragic news and copes with grief, ABSS will have additional counselors from across the district at Eastern High School to support our students and staff,” Atkins said. 

Monday night, the community came together in a vigil at Eastern High School and had a balloon release in tribute to Clark. 

Clark's aunt attended the vigil, and she said the senior who was set to graduate in 2023, had a very special bond with his football teammates at the school where he played wide receiver. 

“You couldn't ask for no other brothers, even though he had one, these boys stuck together, on the field, off the field, and everywhere," said Crystal Hughes, Clark's aunt. "He did what he was supposed to do. ... He impacted a lot of people, his siblings, his cousins they looked up to him.”