ASHEVILLE - Asheville police charged two people in connection with a shooting of an Asheville man in April, a shooting police say is connected to a different shooting at an Asheville apartment complex in July.
APD officers to a home on Atkinson Street at Hillcrest Apartments on April 26 at around 3:30 p.m. to investigate a report of a person who was shot, according to a police press release.
The victim, Damien Dean, 36, of Asheville, had been shot once in the leg and was taken to Mission Hospital, APD Capt. Joe Silberman told the Citizen Times Sept. 14.
A teenager wanted in the shooting in April is also charged in connection with a shooting in July at Maple Crest Apartments on Lee Garden Lane in Asheville, police spokesman Rick Rice said.
Someone
else allegedly involved in the Lee Garden Lane shooting was connected to theBiltmoreAvenue shooting July 19, Silberman said. That shootingkilled Lamarius Jones, 22,and Marques Davis Jr., 24, both of Asheville, and wounded seven others.
Police previously characterized the shooting on Biltmore Avenue as "targeted." Interim Police Chief Jackie Stepp called the shooting part of "an ongoing pattern of retaliatory violence." The two charged in the April shooting are not alleged to have been involved in the Biltmore Avenue shooting, police spokesman Rick Rice said.
Silberman said the shootings involve people acting in "direct opposition" to one another.
"These people are very comfortable using violence. There are events that we believe are at the core of this, that haven't come out yet," Silberman said.
When asked about the possibility of gang-related violence, Silberman said that police believe many involved "have some association with gang activity."
On Sept. 8, APD officers with other local, state and federal law enforcement partners, arrested Lamon Tyrik Smith Jr., 20, in connection with the shooting in April. Smith was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, possessing a weapon of mass destruction, attempted first-degree murder, felony conspiracy, and injury to personal property.
Danvonte Pearson, 16, is wanted in connection with both the April 26 shooting and the July 5 shooting, police said.
The Asheville Police Department is seeking the public’s help in locating Pearson, who is described as a light-skinned Black male, approximately 5’8”, with short black hair and a tattoo above his right eye. Pearson should be considered armed and dangerous, police said.
Kara Fohner is the Public Safety Reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times. Email her at kfohner@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Three charged as Asheville police probe violent cycle
