Raleigh police have made a third arrest after shots were fired Oct. 26 in a parking deck at Crabtree Valley Mall, striking several cars.
Jaquez Brown, 24, Jamarion Quaben Burton, 22, and Tyrone Davis McNeil Jr., 21, now face charges in what officials describe as a "cowboy-style" gunfight in the parking deck near Macy's.
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McNeil was arrested Nov. 7. and charged with felony speeding to elude arrest with a motor vehicle and four counts of misdemeanor hit-and-run.
Earlier, Raleigh police officers arrested Burton, who was charged with felony discharging a weapon into occupied property.
Brown, the first to be arrested, was charged with discharging a weapon into occupied property, which is a felony. In his recent court appearance, Wake County Assistant District Attorney Matt Lively said Brown shot into a car with a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old inside, and there will likely be more charges.
On Saturday, Oct. 26 around 1:35 p.m., Raleigh police officers responded to multiple shots fired in the parking deck behind the mall on Creedmoor Road. An estimated 22 cars were damaged, and around 12 were hit by gunfire, although no one was injured.
Police reports the damage to the cars totaled around $20,000.
Kevin Croitz, a Macy's employee, said his car was among those hit Saturday afternoon while he was working.
WRAL News spoke with Kevin's sister, Cathie Croitz Holman, who started a GoFundMe page to pay for the damage to her brother's car.
"He texted me at 2:30 said there was shooting here," Holman said. "He was like, 'I should call out today, I'm afraid to go back to Crabtree if employee parking lots are not safe. It's the first time I've heard my brother cry."
Holman said Kevin's car was hit 10 times and had bullet holes in the windshield, back window, roof, door and in the trunk. The windows alone will cost $9,000 to repair, she said.
Holman said she is thankful her brother wasn't sitting in his car when the shots began.
"It was a surreal feeling for him," Holman said. "He was at lunch when the shooting occurred. A lot of times he goes to car to decompress, this day he went to food court instead."
She added, "There is no excuse and no reason for this kind of violence in public areas where there are children and families."
WRAL News on Thursday received new 911 calls from the shootings.
"Crabtree Valley Mall in the parking lot by Macy's," one caller describes. "There's a lot of guys shooting at each other."
The caller goes on to describe, "I'm pretty sure the mall police might have heard something, but it's like people running through the parking lot. I was just in here eating lunch but I saw young guys running through the parking lot."
The caller was understandably nervous, telling the dispatcher, "Oh no, they're shooting ... I don't know which way to go. I'm staying in my car, but I just don't know."
Police said witnesses told them several people ran from the scene immediately after the call came in.
"I saw the guy, I saw the guy," another 911 caller described. "I saw the dude in the woods, he just walked out. He's right across the street, they got him."
Lively said the Saturday afternoon shooting in the Macy's parking deck was the result of a fight between rival gangs, describing it as a "cowboy-style gunfight."
There are roughly 50 gangs in Raleigh and hundreds more across the state, according to B.C. Sanders, a retired gang investigator. It was the subject of a recent WRAL documentary "Easy Targets: Gangs getting younger in NC."
Crimes tied to gangs include shootings, robberies, and drugs. WRAL’s investigative documentary team uncovered how the “raise the age” law was being exploited by gang members.
“Raise the age," passed in 2019, meant 16- and 17-year-olds were no longer automatically tried as adults in North Carolina. Law enforcement officials said gangs were using the law to recruit teenagers, saying they would not face charges for committing crimes.
Their claim is backed up by data. In 2019, juveniles under the age of 18 committed 978 violent crimes in the state. In, 2022 the number more than doubled to more than 2,300 crimes.
Business never stopped on Saturday afternoon when shots rang out. Blake Ticknor, a store manager, told WRAL News he was in the mall at the time.
"In today's society these things unfortunately pop up anywhere and everywhere, so it's frustrating," Ticknor said.
Ticknor praised Crabtree Valley Mall's security team, saying their response was fast.
"I can't say enough about the security and the job they do here to keep everybody protected," he said. "Never at any time do I feel unsafe. Security is pretty present. They do a great job of managing security and having that presence well known."