Charges pour down on murder suspect

Raleigh police charge jailed man with 32 new counts; they say spree targeted Hispanics

RALEIGH -- Antoine Jerrod Watkins, already in jail waiting to be tried for murder, was charged Thursday by Raleigh police with taking hundreds of dollars in cash and valuables and shooting two people during a robbery and burglary spree in the downtown area.

Watkins, 26, of Wendell has been in the Wake County jail since April in connection with the Feb. 22 shooting death of Carlos Humberto Martinez during a home invasion robbery at a duplex apartment at 1207-A E. Jones St.

Martinez moved to Raleigh from Honduras three years ago but dreamed of going home one day and owning a farm.

Police have accused Watkins of kicking in the front door of the apartment while a party was going on and demanding money. Martinez tried to subdue the armed, masked man and was shot in the chest.

Police charged Watkins on Wednesday afternoon with 17 counts of armed robbery, seven counts of first-degree burglary, four counts of second-degree kidnapping, two counts of attempted armed robbery and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, according to arrest warrants filed at the Wake County Magistrates' Office.

'Naw, that ain't cool.'

Watkins, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, bounced up when he was called to stand before Magistrate Steve Tibbets. Watkins nodded when Tibbets asked him whether he understood the charges against him.

"Cool," Tibbets said.

"Naw," Watkins replied before a detention officer led him away, "that ain't cool."

Police think the robberies began in late December and continued until the middle of March. The robberies, burglaries and assaults occurred in working-class neighborhoods on the southern edge of downtown -- South, Holmes, Lenoir and Quarry streets.

Watkins had been under investigation since March when police obtained a search warrant for his residence to look for clues that would link him to robberies targeting Hispanics near downtown over the past several months.

The Raleigh Police Department warned Latino residents by contacting Hispanic media outlets and posting Spanish-language fliers in neighborhoods during their investigation of the violent spree, police spokesman Jim Sughrue said.

Investigators have not yet said what led to Watkins' arrest, but some of the victims gave police similar descriptions of the robber, authorities reported in April.

Police have accused Watkins of using a firearm to take more than $4,000 in cash and property from the victims, who all had Hispanic surnames, court records show.

Watkins was being held without bail on murder, habitual felon and felony drug charges. Bail on the additional charges was set at $2 million.