ZEBULON - Police have upgraded charges against two people in connection with a Thursday night shooting after the victim died last weekend.

A local teen died Sunday at WakeMd after being shot in the head by a Middlesex man late Thursday night.

Police have charged Alonza Jamal Hunter, 21, of 6470 Winters Road, Middlesex, and Jomiya Gabrielle Beckwith, 19, of 1225 Pampass Drive, Zebulon, are now charged with first-degree murder.

The shooting took place after an altercation behind the house at 712 Shepard School Road in Zebulon Thursday shortly after 11 p.m.

Zebulon police Chief Tim Hayworth said Hunter fired a .40-caliber handgun two to four times at a person who was running through a field between Shepard School Road and Privette Street.

The direction the person ran put Jonathan Trevon Smith, 19, who lived at the house, in the line of fire. Smith, who was sitting in the back seat of a parked car behind the house, was struck in the head and was said to be in critical condition when officers responded to the call at 11:20 p.m., according to Hayworth.

Smith passed away at WakeMed on Sunday at approximately 5:15 p.m.

"We have some information that there were some drugs involved," Hayworth said, noting it was unclear what started the altercation beyond what Hayworth called "street talk back and forth."

Hayworth said the person Hunter intended to shoot has been located, but Hayworth refused to identify the intended victim. Hunter was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, shooting into an occupied vehicle and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Both he and Beckwith, who police named as an accomplice Monday morning, are currently in the Wake County Detention Center awaiting their first appearance. Hunter was convicted in 2010 of assault on a government official. In 2008, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and in 2005, he was convicted of larceny.

"We believe she (Beckwith) actually assisted in obtaining the weapon he used in the shooting and we believe she assisted him in hiding the weapon after the fact," Hayworth said.