Kannapolis shooting deaths could be linked

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 1, 2009

By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó Police are still trying to sort out a shooting that left one man dead, another hospitalized and the shooter in jail.
And police are looking at the possibility that one or both of two other shooting deaths could be linked to the Lane Street incident.
Manley Johnson III, 23, of 1105 Lane St. remains in the Cabarrus County Jail charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, voluntary manslaughter, possession of a weapon by a felon and manufacturing a controlled substance.
Police responded to a report of gunshots shortly after 11 last Wednesday night, where they found one man dead.
Jerry Latrelle Davis, 32, of Concord died at the scene.
Witnesses said a second man had been shot and left the scene.
Trevin Samuel Carr, 26, of Concord, was found later in Concord after a traffic accident. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. He remains in Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast.
Capt. Chuck Adams said police still aren’t sure of motive in the shootings.
Adams said the shooting occurred in the front yard of the Lane Street duplex where Johnson lived.
Police found marijuana in the house and a makeshift operation for growing marijuana in the dwelling.
Initially, reports indicated that Johnson shot the men after they tried to rob him.
“We don’t know exactly what the motive was,” Adams said Tuesday.
Investigators are also looking at a murder on Venus Street ó two blocks from the Lane Street incident ó for possible connections.
In that incident on April 27, police responded to a call of gunshots.
They found Donyel Devein Simmons, 22, lying in the street with a gunshot wound to the head. He died a short time later at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast.
Police said Simmons had been staying at 1001 Venus St. with a relative. The residence has been forcibly entered. Witnesses saw two men fleeing the scene.
And police are checking with Concord police for a possible connection following the shooting death early Sunday morning of Rodney Leverne Haynes, 38, of 920 Utah St., Kannapolis.
According to Concord police, Haynes was found lying near 100 Corey Ave. at 5:50 a.m. after officers responded to a call of shots being fired.
Haynes was pronounced dead at the scene due to a gunshot would.
Anyone with information related to any of the shootings is asked to call the Kannapolis Area Crime Stoppers at 704-932-7463 or the Kannapolis Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division at 704-920-4001.