Prosecutor offers motive in deadly NC shooting that killed 2, injured 4 youths
The father of a teen shot on a cold morning last December entered the courtroom, sat down in a second-row pew and stared at the young man charged with killing two and attempting to kill five others in an SUV.
In all, six young people were shot, including the man’s daughter, who survived.
When the prosecutor started to explain that the judge would consider issuing a bond at the pending hearing for Keon Rayquan Beal, the father stopped her.
Set the bond as low as possible, he said, so the accused shooter would be released into a community that would take up its own form of justice.
That didn’t happen during the Tuesday hearing.
Instead Durham County Superior Court Judge Brian Wilks set bail at $10 million for Beal during the intense hearing that for the first time provided a possible motive for the Dec. 13 shooting that killed Isaiah Carrington, 19, and Ariuna Cotton, 15. Two 13-year-olds, a 12-year-old and 17-year-old were also injured.
Carrington previously attended Northern High School and the Performance Learning Center, The News & Observer reported. Cotton attended Hillside High.
Beal, 21, who was indicted on two murder charges and five attempted murder charges in March and arrested April 9 in Washington, D.C., wasn’t previously eligible for a bail bond.
At the hearing, Beal sat in orange jail scrubs next to his attorney, handcuffed and shackled. He made no statements in court but occasionally whispered to his attorney.
The Dec. 13 shooting occurred around 3 a.m. near the intersection of Mathison and Eugene streets, two blocks from Burton Magnet Elementary School.
Officers found a stolen black Hyundai Santa Fe crashed into a utility pole. Two passengers were dead and four others had been shot. Another youth in the SUV was unharmed.
Prosecutor discusses motive
Assistant District Attorney Mary Jude Darrow said a 17-year-old was driving the Santa Fe with six other passengers, leaving the McDougald Terrace public housing complex.
“There had been a dispute prior to this shooting,” Darrow said in court Tuesday. “A juvenile had loaned someone a gun and wanted it back.”
Beal and two others followed the Santa Fe in a black Chevrolet Equinox, believing the gun was in the SUV, Darrow said.
The chase reached high speeds before Beal, who was driving the Equinox, rear-ended the Santa Fe, sending it into the telephone pole, Darrow said.
Gunshots spewed from the Equinox, which traveled up the block, turned around and came back, firing another round of bullets, the prosecutor said.
Part of the Equinox’s grille fell off. Police used it to identify the make and model of the car, which eventually led to Beal, who purchased the Chevrolet in his name in Durham County in October 2021, Darrow said.
A gun was found with the shooting victims, but none of the dozens of casings found at the scene matched it.
Beal is a validated gang member, Darrow said, belonging to G-Shine. G-Shine is a Bloods gang that originated in the New York and New Jersey area but now has groups in the Carolinas, according to a federal report on an unrelated federal case.
Beal was a suspect in a 2020 shooting in which more than 80 shots were fired into a building with four youths inside, Darrow said.
Shortly after the December shooting, Beal fled to Washington, D.C., where his father lived, Darrow said.
‘This is not Von’
Beal’s attorney, Emilia Beskind, described the evidence in the case as problematic. She questioned some of Darrow’s assertions, including Beal fleeing to Washington and his gang association.
The evidence provided to the defense shows the dispute involved someone called “Von” who loaned someone a gun and didn’t get it back, Beskind said.
“This is about Von,” she said.
“This is not Von,” she continued, pointing to her client.
The evidence doesn’t provide a connection between Beal and Von, Beskind said.
“There is no evidence of that besides speculation,” she said.
Beal doesn’t have a criminal record, Beskind said, and there was no evidence provided about how police confirmed he was in a gang.
“At his age, it would be very unusual for someone to be a validated gang member and have no record,” she said.
Beal didn’t flee to Washington, Beskind said. He lives there with his family and visits North Carolina to see his child.
Beskind asked for bail to be set at as low as $50,000.
‘It doesn’t make sense’
After the hearing, family members of the teens who were shot and killed expressed frustration at never seeing their children again and confusion about why one man was having a bond hearing when at least two others who were involved have not been arrested.
“I don’t wish bad on nobody, but he and whoever else is involved needs to get the maximum,” said Telisha Cotton, Ariuna’a aunt who helped raise the teen after her mother died 11 months before she was killed. “These were kids. These were human beings.”
Cotton said she is surprised there wasn’t more outrage in the community after six of its youths were harmed.
“They need to do something about this gun violence,” she said. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
