Second suspect in custody in killing at Chapel Hill club

CHAPEL HILL -- With two suspects charged in seven days, Rita Swann said Tuesday she hopes her son's killers will be brought to justice quickly.

Kedrain Monta Swann was shot outside the now-closed Avalon night club in downtown Chapel Hill on July 29, 2006. He was shot seven times, then run over, and died at the scene.

On Tuesday, Christopher Allen Shipley, 25, of 1421 Milan St. in Durham was being held in the Orange County jail without bail after surrendering to Chapel Hill police the day before.

Police named Shipley in court records as the person who they think shot and killed Swann outside the club at 325 W. Rosemary St.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Shipley's father referred all questions to his son's attorneys, Freda Black and Jerry Clayton.

Neither returned a phone call Tuesday.

Shipley's arrest was the second in a case in which police initially encountered reluctant witnesses and had few leads.

Last week, Chapel Hill police arrested Willie James Mayo Jr., 28, of 910 Cartman Drive in Durham. He also was being held without bail in the Orange County jail on charges of first-degree murder and accessory after the fact. Police think he drove the Mazda that witnesses saw leaving the Avalon with Swann's killer.

Swann's daughter, McKenzy Kedrain Swann-Green, was born less than a month after he was buried, said Rita Swann, his mother.

Swann, 26, had been released from prison in November 2002 after serving three years for a drug conviction. Friends said he was getting his life back on track.

Rita Swann said her son was generally quiet and avoided trouble. He had been working on a modular house in Cedar Grove for his daughter and her mother, Rita Swann said.

Swann, whom his mother called "Ked," was always working, promoting his music acts, she said. In 2005, he started a company called Big Boay Promotions, based in the Durham home on Crystal Court where Swann and his girlfriend lived.

On July 29, Swann ended up at the Avalon. He hadn't been planning on going out that night, his mother said, but someone called him to go.

A witness said last year that Swann was on the fringes of an altercation that started when one man accidentally bumped another. The crowd started to throw punches, and many, including Swann, were kicked out of the club. Outside the fighting continued.

Just before 2 a.m., police say, Shipley shot and killed Swann and Mayo drove the car they left in. A third person may have been involved, police have said.

A year later, Rita Swann continues to struggle with the loss of her oldest son.

"You don't shoot a dog 12 times and then run over him," Rita Swann said.

"They say God don't make no mistakes, but I don't feel like that was God's work," she said. "That was the devil's work."