3 arrested in fatal October shooting outside Durham Cook Out
Almost a month after a Greensboro woman was killed in a shootout at a Durham Cook Out, the Durham County Sheriff’s Office has arrested three men tied to the case, officials announced Friday.
Alexander Kenyon Carlton Jr., 23, and Calvin Jerade Spence Jr., 18, both of Durham, face charges of first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, going armed to the terror of the people, and carrying a concealed gun in the Oct. 26 death of Davicia Annie Jean Lee, 29, according to a news release. Jamari Treyvon McKnight, 18, of Morrisville is charged with going armed to the terror of the people, the release said.
Deputies were called to the Cook Out at 1540 South Miami Blvd. just before 10:30 p.m. after shots were fired in the restaurant’s walk-up window area, according to police reports. Lee was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
Search warrant reveals new details
A search warrant filed by the Durham County Sheriff’s Office for an iPhone recovered from McKnight in an Oct. 28 arrest sketches out rough details of the shooting. Video from a nearby store on Linwood Avenue and Fayetteville Street showed Spence and McKnight “appearing to be in possession of firearms” and McKnight without a shirt on about an hour before the shooting, the search warrant states.
Lee arrived at the Cook Out with at least three friends after attending homecoming celebrations at North Carolina Central University. It’s unclear how much interaction she had with McKnight, Carlton or Spence, but Lee’s friends reported witnessing a quarrel between at least two unknown men before Lee was shot.
Arrest warrants for Spence and Carlton claim the pair approached Lee “as she was retreating and disengaging from the argument,” further muddying who exactly participated in the dispute.
Around 10:24 p.m., a Cook Out employee told investigators, a shirtless man appearing to be 18 or 19 years old with a gun strapped to his side — later identified by police as McKnight — placed an order at the walk-up window, accompanied by a friend. Moments later, when the employee stepped away, he heard “two people shooting at each other,” the search warrant states.
First responders found Lee dead in the drive-through area of the Cook Out with an SCCY CPX-3 .380 handgun on her person. Court documents don’t indicate if that handgun was ever fired.
A red or maroon 2011-2015 Ford Explorer was captured on police body camera footage speeding away from the scene, “almost causing a traffic accident in the middle of Highway 70,” the search warrant states. McKnight was pulled over in a maroon 2015 Ford Explorer two days later, according to the search warrant. He was arrested for allegedly concealing a Glock handgun with an extended magazine, and police seized two iPhones from his person, court documents state.
According to the search warrant, Durham police officers spoke to Spence at a local hospital, where he’d been dropped off with a gunshot wound to the arm. A woman accompanying Spence to the hospital told police she had been at the Cook Out and saw Lee “approach Mr. Spence saying, ‘Are you good? Are you good?’ then Ms. Lee shot at Mr. Spence, and he returned gunfire,” the warrant states.
Spence would only tell the detectives that he “was in the area,” according to the search warrant. Arrest warrants allege Spence and Carlton both shot Lee as she was walking away from an argument.
Other charges pending
Carlton faces multiple pending cases in Durham County, including at least 11 other charges, court records show.
At the time of Lee’s killing, Carlton was free on $50,000 secured bond tied to charges of injury to personal property, discharging a firearm in the city of Durham and going armed to the terror of the people. Those charges stemmed from a May 20 incident where Carlton allegedly fired a handgun at a fleeing SUV after getting into an argument with someone at a business, the arrest warrant states.
Under the terms of his release, Carlton was not allowed to possess any weapons, according to the release order.
A Gofundme created by Lee’s father on Oct. 29 has raised $5,360 of a $15,000 goal for her funeral expenses as of Friday morning.
Carlton and Spence are being held without bond at the Durham County jail, while McKnight is being held without bond at the Wake County jail, records show.
“The investigation into this incident continues while all findings are now in the process of being turned over to the Durham County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution,” the Durham County Sheriff’s Office said.
