Police: Raleigh gas station shooting drug-related

A shooting in the parking lot of gas station on South Saunders Street on Friday was drug related, Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue said.

James Arthur Cook Jr., 28, of Raleigh and Antwain Jerome Mitchell, 29, of Fayetteville, are charged with conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine. They also each face charges of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

Investigators say that Cook and Mitchell shot Jonathan Lee Hemby, 31, in the parking lot a Crown gas station at Saunders and Granite streets around 4:40 p.m.

Hemby was transported to WakeMed. The extent of his injuries was withheld.

Police plan to charge Hemby possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine and conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine. The warrants will be served when his medical condition permits, Sughrue said.

Cook and Mitchell were being held in the Wake County Jail Sunday afternoon. Cook had been given a $509,000 bond, and Mitchell, a $520,000 bond.

They were both scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon.

Officers apprehended the pair after they spotted them near Lake Wheeler Road and U.S. Highway 401 a short time after the shooting. They were in a car that matched a description given by witnesses of the shooting, Sughrue said.

Cook has a lengthy criminal record in Wake County dating to 1998, according to state Department of Correction records. He has spent more than 2 1/2 years in prison for numerous convictions for drug distribution and possession, possession of stolen goods, assault on a female and a revoked drivers license.