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Warrants: Raleigh shooting death was drug deal gone bad

A drug deal led to a shooting near a Raleigh park last week that left one man dead, according to search warrants.

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Man shot to death near Raleigh park
RALEIGH, N.C. — A drug deal led to a shooting near a Raleigh park last week that left one man dead, according to search warrants.

Nicholas Raymond Holloway, 21, Gerald Thomas, 23, Eric Michael Scott, 22, and Jaiiviouan Najee Kelly, 21, have been charged with murder in Ford's death.

From left: Nicholas Raymond Holloway, Gerald Thomas and Eric Michael Scott.

According to applications to search Ford's car and phone, Kelly's car and phones belonging to Holloway, Thomas and Scott, some of the four suspects agreed to meet Ford to buy marijuana.

Security video from the nearby Worthdale Community Center shows the four suspects approaching Ford's car, and Scott gets in the front passenger seat while Kelly climbs in the back seat, according to the warrant applications. Moments later, Thomas yanks the driver's door open and leans inside "in what appears to be a robbery attempt," the applications state.

A single shot was fired in the struggle, and Kelly ran off through some nearby woods, while the other three jumped into another car and drove off, according to the warrant applications.

Ford's cellphone was stolen in the robbery, and investigators said they tracked it and determined it was thrown from a car driving on Interstate 540 near Buffaloe Road. Police never found it but wanted access to the data on it.

Jaiiviouan Najee Kelly (Raleigh Police photo)

Three of the suspects identified Kelly as the gunman, according to the warrant applications.

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