Man charged with killing one woman and shooting another asks for reasonable bail

A Durham County judge set bail at $2 million for a man that a prosecutor described as one of the reasons “why Durham is not safe right now.”

Thomas Keith Moore, 42, has a long criminal history that includes convictions for manslaughter, weapons charges and drug offenses.

“He has two bodies on him and one that survived a gunshot wound to the head,” said Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn.

On Tuesday, Moore appeared for a bail hearing in Durham County in handcuffs, shackles and an orange jail jumpsuit.

His attorney, Brennon Morton, asked a judge to set a reasonable bail amount on Moore’s most recent murder charge.

Morton argued Moore had turned himself in, has heart and other health issues and is needed to help with his defense.

The death of Naisha McMillian

Officers responded to a shooting at a rooming house in the 800 block of Ridgeway Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. Oct. 6.

They found 23-year-old Naisha McMillian fatally shot in the hallway.

Four days before, Montgomery-Blinn said, there had been a physical fight between McMillian and Moore.

“Ms. McMillian was able to get the better of the defendant and get away and end the altercation,” she said.

Moore got a gun and waited until he could catch her alone, Montgomery-Blinn said.

“When she came down the hallway between their apartments, he shot her multiple times,” the prosecutor said.

Four witnesses, including her mother, saw parts of the murder, she said.

McMillian’s mother cradled her daughter and then went into her room to hide, the prosecutor said, “leaving her daughter dying in the hallway.”

Moore fled. Police went to his apartment and found large quantities of drugs, Montgomery-Blinn said.

“He was selling to the people in McDougald Terrace, bringing more crime and violence into an already vulnerable neighborhood,” she said.

Shooting at Northgate Mall

After Moore was charged in the October killing, police charged him in a previous shooting.

On Dec. 23, 2017, Moore encountered a married couple at Northgate Mall. Earlier that day, the two women had argued with Moore over a parking spot near Pelican Snoballs on Roxboro Road.

When he saw the couple at the mall, he pulled out his gun out and struck one of the women, who was 21.

“When she was down, he stood over her and shot … directly into her head,” Montgomery-Blinn said.

The woman survived.

The shooting was recorded on mall surveillance, but Moore wasn’t identified until after McMillian was shot.

He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder and possession of a firearm in that case. A $1 million bail has been set on the attempted murder charge, Montgomery-Blinn said.

“However, Mr. Moore has an even longer history than that,” she said.

The first murder charge

In 2000 and 2001, Moore was convicted of carrying a concealed gun.

In 2004 Moore pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for killing Johnny D. Scurlock and was sentenced to 15 months, most of which he had already served in jail awaiting trial.

In August 2000 police found Scurlock’s body wrapped in plastic and a blanket and dumped in a tangle of kudzu, The News & Observer has reported.

Then-prosecutor Tracey Cline said before the plea that Scurlock’s mother wanted the case resolved and that she would leave it up to the judge to punish Moore.

At the hearing, Moore’s then-attorney, Mark Edwards, said Moore was the first in his family to graduate from college, earning a political science degree at N.C. Central University in 1999.

Moore entered a depressed job market, Edwards said, and started dealing crack to support himself.

In the summer of 2000, Moore was robbed several times at his home in a boarding house on Roxboro Street, his attorney said. In August, Scurlock went to Moore’s home with a gun, the men scuffled, and Scurlock was shot in the eye.

Moore wrapped the body in plastic and a comforter and dumped it behind 305 Elliott St.

In 2006 and 2013, Moore was convicted of felony gun charges and in 2009 he was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Considering Moore’s past, keeping him in jail is the only way to keep him from finding his next victim, Montgomery-Blinn said.

She asked Superior Court Judge Michael O’Foghludha to set a $3 million bail on the murder charge and to keep the $1 million bail on the attempted murder charge.

O’Foghludha kept the amount the same on the attempted murder charge and set a $2 million bail on the murder charge.

This story was originally published August 27, 2019 at 3:18 PM.