2 more people charged with murder in 2017 shooting of former ECU football player

Two men who were previously charged with conspiracy in the death of a former East Carolina University football player now face murder charges.

A grand jury this month returned indictments charging Wantavius Burney Jackson and Clifton Jason Spellman with first-degree murder.

Anthony Domonique Lennon, 24, was shot and killed outside the Bahama Breeze restaurant on Wake Forest Road on June 23, 2017. The shooting was an apparent retaliation for a lost drug shipment, according to an autopsy report which said Lennon was struck by at least 18 bullets.

Ashanti Rahdee Bennett, 34, of Greenville had already been charged with murder in the case.

Jackson, 26, of Kinston and Spellman, 26, of Greenville were first charged with felony conspiracy to commit murder. So was Jamar Vick Allen, 22, of Raleigh.

A Wake County grand jury handed up indictments Sept. 10 charging Jackson and Spellman with murder.

Police have said in search warrants that two men had given Lennon money to have drugs shipped from the West Coast, but authorities in Chicago arrested the woman carrying the drugs.

Investigators said Bennett and Lennon had been meeting at the Raleigh restaurant and walked out to where Lennon’s black Range Rover was parked. That was when witnesses heard arguing and at least 10 shots, they told police.

Investigators found 19 spent shell casings in the parking lot.

Lennon played defensive back for the Pirates from 2011 to 2015. His teammates referred to him as “Domo.” He earned three letters playing at ECU.

Lennon had moved back to the Suffolk, Va., area after college, but had returned to live in Raleigh, officials said.

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 2:17 PM.