After two teens were killed at Leinbach Park, police say the case is also about the adults who were there as the fight unfolded.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The fatal shooting at a Winston-Salem park is now widening into a case about more than gunfire, with police saying adults who were present during a planned teen fight could also face criminal charges after two boys were killed.
That added layer has turned the investigation into a broader test of responsibility after a daytime gathering at Leinbach Park ended in chaos Monday morning. The shooting left 17-year-old Erubey Romero Medina and 16-year-old Daniel Jimenez Millian dead and five others injured. Police say multiple people fired weapons during the confrontation. Chief William H. Penn Jr. has said the episode reflects a deeper problem of young people gathering for fights while adults either fail to intervene or actively encourage the behavior that leads to violence.
According to police, officers were called to the park just before 10 a.m. after a planned fight among young people escalated. Leinbach Park sits in a residential part of Winston-Salem near Jefferson Middle School, and the response quickly spread concern through the surrounding area. Jefferson Middle School and Mt. Tabor High School were briefly placed on secure hold while officers worked the scene. By the afternoon, Penn was standing before reporters, voicing grief and anger over what had happened. He said the city keeps seeing the same pattern: fights among juveniles, weapons pulled out and families left with irreversible loss.
The first criminal case filed after the shooting points to how police are framing the event. On Tuesday, officers charged 18-year-old Joel Michael Gamble-Toliver with felony riot and felony child abuse. Police said he knew about the fight before it started and discharged a firearm during the incident. Authorities have not publicly described his relationship to the victims or said whether he is suspected in either teen’s death. They also have not released the full chain of events showing who fired first, how many weapons were used or whether all of the wounded were bystanders. Police have said some of the injured may also have been involved in the shooting.
Penn’s sharper warning, though, was directed at adults who came to the park and did not stop the gathering from spiraling. In a public update, he said young adults who stood by, encouraged or aided juvenile misconduct would not be tolerated in the community. That position was backed by other local law enforcement leaders, including District Attorney Jim O’Neill and Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough. The message suggested that investigators see the violence not only as a shooting case but as the end result of earlier decisions made before the first shot was fired.
Whether that approach produces more convictions is still uncertain. Police have not spelled out what charges those adults might face, and outside legal observers have noted that merely watching a fight is not usually enough by itself to support a criminal case. That means prosecutors may need to show stronger evidence, such as helping organize the meeting, urging minors to fight, transporting participants, supplying weapons or otherwise assisting the conduct that led to the shooting. Those details have not yet been laid out in public, and the investigation remains open even though police say they are not searching for additional suspects.
The case has left Winston-Salem leaders confronting familiar fears about youth violence, supervision and access to guns. Penn has argued that public safety cannot rest on arrests alone and that families and adults must play a larger role before gatherings turn violent. The park shooting, coming near schools and in daylight, sharpened those concerns because it did not unfold in a hidden place or late at night. It happened in a neighborhood park where a planned clash drew enough people to create conditions for a mass shooting.
As of Wednesday, authorities had announced one arrest, confirmed that more charges are possible and continued reviewing the actions of both shooters and adults who were present before the confrontation turned deadly.
Author note: Last updated April 23, 2026.