Suspects In Durham Murder Case Almost Come To Blows

Anthony Patterson and Naeem Rasheed "Nino" Mahmoud sat side-by-side at their first court appearance Wednesday morning. As the court hearing proceded, both suspects started fighting. A public defender helped bailiffs to separate the two suspects.

As tempers flared before the bench, one of Mahmoud's relatives sobbed in the gallery.

"They can cry all they want to. I don't really care about those people and their feelings. My child is dead because of their child. He's still here," said Rodney Perkins, a relative of Carroway's.

Durham police will not say how the suspects know each other or the victim, Tia Carroway, but they do not believe the shooting was part of a gang initiation.

"What I can say is this homicide is not gang-related. This was a random act of senseless violence," said Lt. N.J. Blake of the Durham Police Department.

Mahmoud and Patterson are being held in the Durham County Jail without bond.

Authorities said Patterson was shot on Friday night after getting into a fight with the victim's fiancee. Tia Carroway, 23, was found shot to death on Saturday morning.

After receiving an anonymous call, police found Carroway's body on an old dirt road in southern Durham. She had been shot once in the back of the head.

On Thursday, authorities said Carroway left her job at Durham Regional Hospital to pick up lunch and never returned. The next day, her car was found abandonded across town on Roosevelt Street.

Police arrested Patterson and Mahmoud on Tuesday. Both have had run-ins with the law before. Court records show Mahmoud is on probation for assaulting a woman. Patterson's record includes drug charges, robbery and hit-and-run.

Carroway's family hopes to learn more from police soon about their daughter's death.

"She has a 2-year-old child that we're going to have to explain to him what happened to his mother because of some dumb fools. It doesn't make any sense," said Francine Perkins, a relative of Carroway.

Funeral services for Carroway will be Thursday at Orange Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, 505 East End Street. Visitation is at noon and the service will begin 1 p.m.

Carroway and her current boyfriend were also supposed to be in court later in July on charges stemming from an argument between them. She allegedly slapped him after he kicked in her door.