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Durham Police Arrest Five Gang Members On Shooting, Murder Charges

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DURHAM, N.C. — Durham police investigators arrested five validated Crip gang members on a variety of felony charges including murder Wednesday morning after raiding a house at 719 Holloway St.

Mario Fortune of 1012 Franklin St. and Philipe Parker, 18, of 1006 Worth St. -- were charged with murder in connection with the Jan. 24 shooting death of 24-year-old Carlos Clayton on Canal Street. Both men were also charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury in connection with that incident. Jeremy Lamar Meeks, 18, of Sidneys Way, was arrested on the same charges Tuesday evening.

Police said several people were standing in the 500 block of Canal Street around 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 24 when the occupants of a small red or gray car fired several shots at them. Clayton, 24, of North Elizabeth Street, died at a local hospital later that evening. A second man, 20-year-old Robert Lee, was treated at the hospital for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Joshua "Juicy" Lamont Johnson, 17, of 301 South Elm Street, Apt. B-2, was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder in connection with the July 1, 2003 shooting death of 15-year-old Kasheem Greene. Greene was outside a convenience store on Cheek Road near Hardee Street when someone in a minivan opened fire, fatally injuring Greene and wounding a woman in the shoulder. Johnson was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

A fourth man arrested at the house on Holloway Street, Devarcia Lamont Barnes, 17, of 2112 Faucette Ave., was charged with being an accessory after the fact to a felony in connection with a Feb. 24 shooting near Old Oxford Highway and Dearborn Drive. A 41-year-old female motorist was shot in the head as she was turning on to Dearborn Drive. The woman's injuries were not life-threatening and she was an innocent bystander, according to investigators. Two teens were arrested on Feb. 24 and charged with shooting the woman.

A fifth man, Tyrone Lamont Dean, 19, of 200 West Geer St., was also arrested Wednesday morning. He was charged with shooting a man on May 10 in the 500 block of Liberty Street.

"The Homicide Unit has spent countless hours on these investigations and the investigators have done a tremendous job in clearing these cases," said Sgt. Brett Hallan of the Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division.

As investigators were raiding the house on Holloway Street, Durham Police Chief Steven Chalmers and other law enforcement and community leaders from throughout the U.S. Middle District of North Carolina were gathering in downtown Durham to attend a Project Safe Neighborhoods Violence Reduction Summit.

"It is certainly fitting that as these individuals are being arrested, we are meeting to discuss violence and to come up with better ways to address gang and firearm violence in Durham. We are discussing best practices and programs that have been successful in other cities," Chalmers said.

"We are strongly committed to addressing violent crime and gang violence in Durham. Our ultimate goal is to eliminate gang violence, but we realize we can't prevent all violent crimes from occurring and we are committed to bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice," he said. "We have to deal with the issue of gang violence as a community and look at trying to take preventive measures and provide alternatives to gang membership."

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