He was a quiet student who liked old school music. He was gunned down outside his home.

Family members say Brandon Alexzander Chavis was a quiet, respectful young man studying to earn a degree from Wake Tech. He liked old school music and fashion from an earlier era, often wearing a fedora.

On Sunday night, Chavis, 26, stepped outside the apartment he lived in with his cousins, preferring to listen to music while those inside watched a movie.

That’s when shots rang out. Minutes later, Chavis was pronounced dead at WakeMed nearby.

Raleigh police announced Wednesday that three men – Christopher Malik Bradby, 23, of Raleigh, and Jabari Olajawon Thorpe, 24, and Isiah Adler Ulysse, 17, both of Durham – have been charged first-degree murder in Chavis’ death, police reported. They are all in custody at the Wake County jail, where they are being held without benefit of bond, a jail spokesman said Wednesday night.

Police have not disclosed a motive for the shooting. But the victim’s father, Willis Clark, 58, of Raleigh, thinks gang members may have randomly targeted his son.

Clark, a retired city employee who works part-time as a bus operator with Go Triangle, said that just before 10 p.m. Sunday, Chavis stepped outside the apartment in the 3100 block of Calumet Drive that he shared with cousins Samuel and Norman Clark.

“They said they heard four shots,” Willis Clark said about his nephews. “They said Brandon came staggering through the door.”

Clark said his son had been shot twice in the arm and once in the abdomen, where the bullet struck a main vein. Emergency workers rushed Chavis to WakeMed, where he was pronounced dead.

Good manners

Chavis was a 2010 graduate of Wakefield High School who was raised by his father in a quiet neighborhood off Buffaloe Road in northeast Raleigh. A funeral wreath of white carnations, tied with a silver satin ribbon, stands this week near the front door of the one-story home.

Chavis was the youngest of four children. His stepmother described him as a quiet and well-mannered man who was taught by his dad to be independent and strong-minded.

“He used to do a lot of his own cooking,” said his stepmother, Deborah Clark. “He would always clean up behind himself.”

Chavis was hoping to earn a degree with Wake Tech’s associate in science program, said Laurie Clowers, a Wake Tech spokeswoman.

Deborah Clark, a health care worker, said her stepson followed his father’s lead in many matters, including often wearing fedoras and sweaters.

“He dressed like an older person,” she said. “He had that chivalry, like his dad. I never had to open a door. I never had to carry a bag.

“He liked to rap, but he liked old school music,” she added. “He said with old school music, the words could tell you a story and the words meant something.”

Willis Clark said he – along with Chavis’s aunts and stepmother – tried to instill a love for learning and respect for others in his youngest child.

“It was the same thing my daddy taught us,” Willis Clark said. “If we didn’t do right, he didn’t spare no rod.”

Willis recalled that his son got tangled up with a gang while in high school. One day, he noticed a gang tattoo on his son’s shoulder. He ordered Chavis to cover the tattoo and stay away from gangs.

Deborah Clark said that when Chavis graduated from high school, he often took care of his grandmother. “She was wheelchair-bound, and he made sure she was very comfortable with her daily routine. He would sit and talk with her and look at the church programs on TV with her.”

“Sometimes they would have church together,” chimed in Chavis’s aunt, Reba Terrell, of Raleigh.

In August 2011, Chavis started The Alex B. List, a startup music venture in Raleigh that branched out into clothing, too. The company logo featured an eagle emblazoned, wings spread, behind the company name.

“Success starts here,” was the company’s motto. Chavis explained on his Facebook page that the eagle symbolized inspiration, independence, power “and most importantly, freedom.”

The Alex B. List apparently folded in 2014. But the highlights of the venture, chronicled on Facebook, show a well-read, intelligent man who wanted to leave his mark on the world through music and clothing.

Legal trouble

But last month, Chaviswas charged with one misdemeanor count each for possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana paraphernalia. He was scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 6, according to state records.

At the time of the shooting, Chavis was working at a Food Lion grocery on Six Forks Road, his father said.

Willis Clark said he last heard from his son Sunday at about 11:30 a.m.

Hours later, at about 4:30 a.m. Monday, a police officer called Willis Clark and asked him if he knew Brandon Chavis.

“I told him. ‘yeah, that’s my son.’ He said, ‘I’m sorry to tell you he’s been shot and he’s been killed.’”

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 3:58 PM with the headline "He was a quiet student who liked old school music. He was gunned down outside his home.."