Third suspect charged in deadly triple-shooting, Rock Hill police say
A third suspect has been charged in a shooting that left three teens dead in Rock Hill in April, according to police.
The Rock Hill Police Department announced Thursday that officers arrested 21-year-old Chris’tavious Caldwell and charged him in connection with one of the murders.
Previously, two juveniles were charged in the shootings.
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One of those juveniles, a 17-year-old, was charged as an adult with two counts of murder after the incident. The other was a 16-year-old girl who was charged with murder after allegedly driving two teens, one 17 and the other 16, to the scene the night of the shooting.
Rock Hill police said they received several calls reporting gunshots after 10 p.m. April 26 and responded to Gist Road near South Cherry Road.
Investigators said that three males were in a car parked on Gist Road when two other males, 17 and 16 years old, walked up to the car and started shooting into it.
A 16-year-old, who was in the driver’s seat, was fatally shot, police said.
Ahmik Coleman, 17, of Rock Hill, was in the front passenger seat and returned fire, striking the two shooters on the road. Someone in the backseat ran from the car.
Coleman then got out of the car and started to run, but immediately returned fire again, killing the 17- and 16-year-old teens laying in the roadway, police said.
Omarian Small, 16, of Lake Wylie, was found dead in a vehicle at the scene, the York County Coroner’s Office said. Kam’ran Brevard, 16, of Rock Hill, also died at the scene.
Evanta Hart, 17, of Rock Hill, was taken to EMS to Piedmont Medical Center where he died from his injuries.
On Thursday, police announced Chris’tavious Caldwell had been charged with Small’s murder. He was taken into custody in Great Falls on Wednesday and is expected in court for a bond hearing on Thursday.
Coleman was shot in the hand and taken to the hospital, officers said.
The 16-year-old girl was charged as a juvenile with murder. She was taken into custody in April. Her name and photo were not released because she was charged as a juvenile.
Hart’s mother, Jacqulin Watson, told Channel 9′s Tina Terry in April that she adopted him when he was just 9 months old and said she did her best to raise him.
“There is nothing that can bring him back to me. I may not have carried him the 9 months. I may not have endured the labor of him but he was mine,” Watson said. “He was placed with me to be taken care of and I feel that I have failed him in such a great way. My son was not perfect. I knew what he was capable of.”
Detectives put the pieces together and issued two murder warrants for Coleman, charging him as an adult.
He was brought to the Law Center and taken into custody on April 27. Coleman then faced a judge the next day, where police explained why they charged him with murder.
“We determined the gunfight was result of ongoing dispute between two parties. After the initial exchange, the two victims were wounded and laying on the ground. The defendant returned to the scene and executed them by shooting and killing them,” said Tayler Tucker with the Rock Hill Police Department.
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Terry said Watson tuned to Coleman in court to tell him she forgives him, but she and police asked the judge to keep him in jail with no bond.
“I have no anger in my heart for him, but I don’t want him on the street to be harming anybody else,” Watson said.
At one point in court, Terry said the judge asked if Coleman’s parents or anyone was there to support Coleman. No one was there at all.
Coleman will remain in jail at this point, but a bond hearing is set for July.
A Channel 9 crew at the scene that night saw a large police presence and crime tape blocking off Gist Road. A car was also seen with several bullet holes.
A man told Channel 9′s Tina Terry that his 17-year-old brother was one of the victims.
“He called me actually yesterday morning and I missed the call and I wish I could have answered just to hear that last ‘I love you’. Always ended a phone call with ‘I love you’ and now I’ll never get to hear him, or see him again. It’s sad,” Qua Hart said. “I just wish there was something I could have done. He was just too young to be taken.”
According to police, the shooting was not a random act of violence and that the community is not at risk.
(Watch the video below: Three people killed, another hurt in Rock Hill shooting, police say)
Rock Hill police said an investigation is ongoing.
Neighbors were also shaken by the shooting because they said it’s normally a very quiet neighborhood.
“It was definitely sobering to see, like a body on the street,” neighbor Samantha Diener said.
Check back wsoctv.com for updates.
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