25-year-old charged in downtown Raleigh homicide

The body of Christopher James Locus, 23, of Raleigh, was found at South Blount and East Lenoir streets at about 7:15 a.m. Police said he had been shot.

Charles Douglas Mitchell has been charged with murder in connection with the death. He was being held at the Wake County Detention Center Wednesday night.

Mitchell has been charged in the past with robbery with a dangerous weapon, resisting a public officer, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Authorities said Mitchell and Locus knew each other.

Witnesses said the shooting happened sometime around midnight near the Shaw University campus following an altercation between Locus, another man and several Shaw students. Witnesses reported hearing a gunshot and then seeing people run in a panic.

"After he got shot or whatever, he came running back here behind these trash cans," Shaw student El Raheim said. "Next thing I know, he was gone."

Locus wasn't a Shaw student. State court records show he was on probation for a 2013 conviction on drug charges, and he was due in court over the next three weeks on a variety of charges, including breaking and entering, larceny, assault by pointing a gun and probation violations.

A woman who works at a nearby corner mini-mart found Locus' body and said she’s alarmed by the violence but not surprised.

"It’s a rough neighborhood. There’s a lot of violence over here in this area," Brenda Locklear said. "There is a lot of gunshots that ring out over here."