News

Prosecutors say park shooting death happened after a planned fight

Monteith

By Amy McCraw, Published: April 29, 2026

The shooting death of 18-year-old Izabella Gamez this week happened after young women met in a Dana park to fight each other, an assistant district attorney said on Wednesday during the first court appearances of the two teen-aged suspects in the case.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Van Buren told District Court Judge William Jones of Haywood County that Sheilah Tong, 18, drove Leron Monteith, 19, to a fight that young women planned to hold in Dana Community Park on Monday night.
Other young men also attended the fight, Van Buren said.
Video shows that Monteith displayed a gun during the planned fight. He also gave the gun to a young woman at the fight who later gave it back, the prosecutor said.
After the fight, Monteith fired seven shots in the air before firing three more shots in the direction of three young women standing near a car. One hit the car’s trunk, while another struck Gamez. The third shot went into a home, Van Buren said.
Tong then drove Monteith to his mother’s home after the shooting.
Patrol deputies and detectives with the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office responded quickly to a report of a shooting in the park in Dana at 11:26 p.m. on Monday, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office. Upon arrival, deputies located Gamez and found she suffered from an apparent gunshot wound. She later succumbed to her injuries. During the course of the investigation, including crime scene processing and witness interviews, detectives identified and later arrested Monteith and Tong as suspects in the case.
Monteith was charged with first-degree murder and Tong was charged with accessory after the fact on Tuesday after the investigation of the incident.
Both were held without bond on Tuesday.
Van Buren told Judge Jones he believed that recent changes in state law would require Tong to remain held without bond.
But her Hendersonville attorney, Nathan Stallings, disagreed saying the law did not apply to her case. He also said Tong should receive a bond because she has no prior record, has a strong support system and family that works in the court system.
Tong has also been cooperative with law enforcement, he said.
“She never touched the gun,” he said. “Miss Tong is an 18-year-old girl who drove away from the scene.”
Stallings also disputed Van Buren’s description of Monteith shooting while sitting inside the car with Tong.
Monteith was standing outside the vehicle when the incident took place, Stallings said.
Judge Jones set a $250,000 secured bond for Tong during her appearance on Wednesday morning. She did not appear on a list of inmates in Henderson County’s detention facility Wednesday evening.
The judge and Tong appeared on a courtroom monitor through separate video feeds from Haywood County and the jail in Henderson County.
A judge from outside Henderson County was needed for Tong’s appearance because a member of her family works in the county’s clerk of court office, court officials said.
Tong “just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Stallings said in an interview after the hearing.
“She is super regretful,” he said. “She is regretful for the loss of life and was not involved in the taking of life.”
Monteith appeared on the courtroom’s video monitor with Beth W. Stang, Henderson County’s chief public defender.
District Court Judge Abe Hudson returned to the courtroom to handle Monteith’s first appearance.
Van Buren recounted much of the same information about the case to the court before Hudson ordered that Monteith remain held without bond.
Monteith was arrested for the shooting death while awaiting trial on pending charges of possessing a stolen vehicle, theft and "going armed to the terror of the public," court records said.
Gamez graduated from North Henderson High School in December 2025, according to a statement from Henderson County Public Schools.
“Our HCPS community is grieving the loss of Bella Gamez,” the statement said. “We are keeping her family, friends, teachers and all those impacted by this tragic loss close in our thoughts and prayers.”
Members of the district’s Crisis Team, including school counselors and social workers, were scheduled on Wednesday to offer support and care to students and staff.
“They will continue to be available in the coming days as our community comes together to support one another,” the statement said.
Monteith and Tang are both scheduled to appear in court again on May 12.