Sister says Uniontown man was a hero
Dawn Vlosich said her brother Danny Ray McFadden Sr., a specialist in the National Guard at Fort Bragg, N.C., would often pop in, unannounced, for surprise visits.
“It made everybody happy because it was a surprise,” she said. “He came home every chance he got.”
McFadden of Uniontown, who was planning to make a trip home Wednesday, was killed Monday in Fayetteville, N.C., according to Fayetteville police.
“It’s just really hard to know that he’s never going to knock on my door,” Vlosich said.
According to Lt. Todd Joyce, public information officer for the Fayetteville police, Anthony Dwayne Hair, 25, was arrested on Thursday for the alleged murder of McFadden. Hair has been charged with first-degree murder, police said.
Hair allegedly shot McFadden during a party around 3 a.m. Monday, police said. Police said about 15 people were attending a party when three men produced weapons and robbed those in attendance. During the course of the robbery, McFadden was shot and fatally wounded. Another person at the party was also shot and transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A second man accused by investigators of being involved in the shooting, Thomas Wayne McCarley, 24, of Autryville, turned himself in to police on Friday. Two other men, Darrick Lynn Grissom and Antonio Terrell Johnson, also 24, are still being sought by police, said Joyce.
Both Hair and McCarley are being held without bond, added police.
“He was my baby brother and also my best friend,” Vlosich said. “We were extremely close. It’s heartbreaking to know that this happened. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Vlosich said her brother joined the National Guard in 2009. He was a member of the Florida National Guard and on active duty with the HHB 2nd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery at Fort Bragg, N.C.
She said her brother was able to overcome the stereotypes that surrounded his upbringing.
“You have your family scenarios — the life we came from wasn’t exactly extravagant,” she said. “But he’d come a long way. He didn’t come from too much, but he accomplished a lot in his life. Everybody was really proud of him.”
Vlosich said she has received several calls from people she’s never heard of, telling her how much of an impact her brother had on others.
“He has so many people who love him,” she said. “He was just that good of a guy. He had an impact on so many people out where he was stationed and everywhere he went.”
McFadden’s goal was to be a hero for his 8-year-old son, Danny Ray McFadden, Jr.
“He truly was a hero,” Vlosich said. “He loved life, and lived life to the fullest. He was my hero.”
Funeral arrangements are incomplete and will be announced later in the week by the DEARTH FUNERAL HOME, New Salem.