Deion Jamille Johns opened fired on a Christmas parade in North Carolina, injuring two, one of which is in critical condition.
ABC News reports:
Police say one person has been arrested in a shooting that happened during a Christmasparade in central North Carolina.
Sanford Police Sgt. Vincent Frazier tells local news outlets that 20-year-old Deion Jamille Johns was arrested Monday and charged with several crimes including attempted murder.
Authorities say two people were hurt in the shooting that happened Monday night around 8 p.m. at Sanford’s annual Christmas parade. Police say one person is in serious condition, while the other person’s injury is not life threatening.
Johns was being held in the Lee County jail on a $360,000 secured bond with a first court appearance scheduled for Tuesday. It wasn’t immediately known if he has an attorney.
Johns bail was increased on Tuesday to $1.5 million.
Abdo Alwahishi, owner of the Rite Stop Shop convenience store, said he was outside telling a group of men blocking his door to move to another location when he heard shots ring out. He believed the incident occurred in the parking lot in front of his store.
“I heard about seven or eight gunshots. I was standing at the door and as soon as I came in the store, before I even hit the counter, that’s when I heard the gunshots,” he said. “It was scary. Cause everybody was nervous and as soon as they heard the gunshots, people were running inside the store and people were running out. People were also running in the other direction hoping that the bullet wouldn’t hit them.”
Police have taken surveillance video from the Rite Stop Shop as part of their investigation, Alwahishi said.
A local ABC affiliate added:
Sanford’s Christmas Parade, one of the oldest in the area, was marred Monday night by gun violence that left two people injured and sent parade-goers scrambling for safety.
Early Tuesday morning, police confirmed that two teenagers were shot.
Sanford police officers who were working the annual Christmas Parade heard several gunshots near the 100 block of South Gulf Street. Officers saw a man firing a handgun at another man.
Officers chased the suspect north on Gulf Street and after a brief foot chase, the suspect was taken into custody, said Sanford Police Capt. Harold Layton.
The victim, identified as Sean Dimitrius Matthews, 18 of Sanford, was found suffering from several gunshot wounds to his lower abdomen area, arms and leg. He was taken to CCH ER and later flown to UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill for further treatment.
Matthews was listed in critical condition.
Another victim was struck once by gunfire in his arm. Jadakis Tysor, 16 of Sanford, was taken to CCH ER in a personal vehicle and treated for his injury.
Police charged Deion Jamille Johns, 20, of the 1500 block of Westover Drive in Sanford with one count of attempted murder and one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. Johns was also charged with three misdemeanors which included discharging a firearm within city limits, possession of a weapon at a parade and going armed to the terror of the people.
Wait, what? Possession of a weapon at a parade? Now, look, what the guy did was wrong, but seriously? There is a law that bans possessing a weapon at a parade? What are we coming to as a people when we restrict the God-given right to keep and to bear arms? Does that not include keeping and bearing them at parades?
One thing that must be kept in mind here is that the anti-Americans today will take a story like this and use it as propaganda against law abiding citizens. They claim that since one will commit a criminal act with a gun, then measures must be taken to stop anyone from carrying a gun to … say a parade. Those measures fail, as evidenced in this incident, but those who seek to abide by the “pretended law” of men are then restricted from the ability to protect themselves and others, or even more so, to take down the bad guy when they use a God-given right for a criminal action.
Lee County Schools released a statement Tuesday morning regarding the shooting:
In response to the incident at the Sanford Christmas Parade last night, administrators at Lee County High School, Southern Lee High School and Bragg Street Academy have put additional law enforcement officers on those campuses as a precautionary measure.
At times like this, we know that rumors are spread through social media. Based on the investigation of our SROs and administrators, we have found no credible threats to our schools.
We remain in close contact with the Sheriff’s Office as we go throughout the day. In addition, our counselors in all of our schools are available to students and staff who may need help in dealing with this terrible tragedy in our community.”
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