How Knightdale police’s ‘intense investigation’ in gang shooting led to teen’s arrest
More than a year after a Knightdale woman was fatally shot at her home, court documents reveal how police worked for months to connect a Raleigh teen to her killing — and how that same teen is also accused in a separate murder two weeks earlier.
Shinaka Ocean Earth, 40, was killed Nov. 8, 2023, just before 7:30 p.m. at her Twain Town Drive home, The News & Observer previously reported. Police announced last March they had arrested a juvenile in her death, according to WRAL, but didn’t share the minor’s name.
Earth was sitting on her front porch “when a car approached and shot multiple times towards the house,” according to her autopsy report.
Earth was shot in the chest and leg, and 50 bullet casings were found at the scene, autopsy and court records show.
Ja’Kailyn Debnam, 18, is charged with first-degree murder in her death, court records show. In search warrants, police described their work on the case as “months and numerous hours of intense investigation” that included digging through Instagram accounts, seizing firearms and more.
Rival gangs implicated in shooting, police say
The investigation started with comments from Earth’s son to other family members that a local gang was behind his mother’s death, according to search warrants.
After consulting with the Raleigh Police Department’s Gang Unit, Knightdale police identified her son as an “associate with a local street gang affiliated with the United Blood Nations (Blood)“ in Raleigh, the warrants state.
The warrants allege that gang had a rivalry with a local Hispanic street gang called the “Maldonado Crew.”
“The ‘Maldonado Crew’ operates near the Poole Road and Sunnybrook Road [area] in Raleigh, NC selling drugs and have been known to post pictures on Instagram of firearms,” the warrants state.
Firearms seized, traced to killing
On Nov. 10, 2023, Raleigh police seized three firearms during a search of a Sunnybrook Road address tied to the gang, according to court documents. Two of those firearms were traced back to Earth’s shooting.
“Knightdale detectives were advised that there were multiple pictures of the firearms that were seized posted on social media accounts [,] predominantly Instagram, by members of the ‘Maldonado Crew,’” the search warrants state.
Debnam’s social media account showed him with one of the weapons used in the shooting days before Earth was killed, according to court documents. His phone records also placed him at the scene of the crime at the time Earth was shot, warrants state.
Separate murder charge
But by the time Debnam was indicted in Earth’s death April 2, 2024, he was already facing a separate murder charge in Wake County, court records show.
On Dec. 11, 2023, Debnam was charged with fatally shooting Taliyah Watson, 19, and attempting to murder another young woman almost two months prior, according to court documents. The two women were on Sawyer Road in Raleigh when their vehicle was shot into just after midnight Oct. 21, 2023, The N&O previously reported.
Four others have also been charged in Watson’s killing. Search warrants allege Debnam, who went by “Iraq,” was asked to “pull up” that night because Jordan Sanders, 23, was about to fight Watson. The women had been feuding for several months, court documents state. Sanders is also charged with murder in Watson’s death.
Several witnesses identified Debnam as the shooter, according to search warrants.
Debnam is awaiting trial in both cases and remained in the Wake County jail without bail as of Thursday afternoon.
