19-year-old shoots brothers in front of courthouse, killing 1, North Carolina cops say

Two brothers were shot and one was killed in front of a courthouse in North Carolina, police said.

Now, a 19-year-old faces murder charges in connection with the shooting, police said.

Responding to reports July 12 of gunshots in front of the Craven County Courthouse, police found 21-year-old Jaheem Dashawn McDaniels and his brother, 23-year-old Jordan Andre McDaniels, from Bayboro, suffering from gunshot wounds, according to a news release from the New Bern Police Department.

Both brothers were transported to a hospital in Greenville, but Jordan Andrew McDaniel died from his injuries, according to the release. Jaheem Dashawn McDaniels is in critical condition, police said.

“Based on this investigation, it appears that this shooting was not a random act of violence,” police said in the release. “The parties involved in this incident knew each other.”

The suspect, identified as 19-year-old Dakota Wright from Vanceboro, fled the scene after the shooting, according to officers. He was later arrested and booked into the Craven County Jail with no bond, the release said.

Wright faces one open count of murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and one count of attempted murder, according to the release.

District Attorney Scott Thomas told WITN that all three men involved in the shooting were inside a courtroom before the incident.

Sheriff Chip Hughes told WITN that his deputies noticed some “body language” between the three men in the courthouse, and all three moved out of the courthouse, with deputies following behind.

The three men argued in front of the courthouse before the shooting, but no one ever brought a gun into the building, Hughes told WITN.

One family, whose daughter was serving jury duty at the courthouse during the shooting, said their daughter “sent us a text that she was scared and that she loved us and that she believed there was an active shooter outside or inside the courtroom,” Latisha North told WCTI.

Police said there is no evidence of any additional threat in the area.

New Bern is about 115 miles southeast of Raleigh.

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