2 more men charged with murder in NC home invasion where resident died after shootout
Two more men have been charged with the murder of an Orange County resident during a March home invasion, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.
Four arrests have been made so far — and one man has pleaded guilty — in the killing of Jerry Lee Driggers, who lived on U.S. 70 West near Efland.
The men are accused of breaking into Driggers’ home with firearms shortly after midnight on March 3. Driggers exchanged gunfire with the suspects and was fatally hit, dying hours later at Duke Hospital.
Driggers shot one suspect, Clarence Brandon Hayes, 28, of Durham, who ran from the home.
Deputies found Hayes early that Sunday morning in the parking lot of the nearby JR Auto Mart with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He underwent surgery at Duke Hospital before being charged.
Christopher Hamlett, 49, of Hillsborough, and Scotty Pleasants, 42, of Creedmoor, were charged earlier this month with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, and felony conspiracy charges, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Office jail records.
The News & Observer reported last month that another man, Demarcus Tatum, 28, of Durham also was charged with first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, and felony conspiracy charges, as well as possession of a firearm by a felon.
All three men are being held in the Orange County Detention Center without bail.
Hayes pleaded guilty in July to second-degree murder, as well as first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, felony conspiracy and injury to real property, according to court documents.
Hayes’ sentence in the case will depend on his cooperation with law enforcement and testimony against the other men involved in the home invasion, Orange County District Attorney Jeff Nieman has said.
What led to the shooting?
Sheriff’s investigators filed a search warrant in July for Tatum’s cell phone that provided The N&O with details about the fatal shooting.
According to the warrant, Hayes told investigators that Tatum approached him in the parking lot of the Rochelle Manor apartments in Durham about a robbery going down at a house on U.S. 70 where illegal drugs were allegedly being sold.
The men broke into the house, and Tatum and another man forced a woman who lived there into a back bedroom at gunpoint, asking her where the safe was, Hayes and investigators said. Meanwhile, Hayes kicked open another door to find Driggers, who fired a .410 single-barrel shotgun, striking Hayes, who returned fire, the warrant said.
As he was running from the house, Hayes told investigators, he heard another gunshot, the warrant said.
Anyone with information about the case can call Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Dylan Hendricks at 919-245-2951.
