Police name second suspect in Kannapolis shooting

Published 12:00 am Saturday, May 26, 2012

By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — Police have named a second person believed to have been involved in the shooting death of 17-year-old Daniel Cooper.
According to Kannapolis Police, Damarick Lamar Harper, 17, of Kirk Street in China Grove, was one of three at the scene when Cooper was shot in the neck on Monday.
He later died of his injuries at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast.
Police quickly identified 19-year-old Darius Jamal Smotherson, of Glendale?Avenue, as a suspect and obtained a murder warrant for his arrest.
On Friday, authorities obtained warrants for Harper on charges of felony robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Police have not released the name of a third suspect in the shooting.
Cooper was shot in the neck while in the passenger seat of a white Honda Prelude on Snow Street Monday about 3 p.m.
The driver, who police have not identified, drove away from the scene, but stopped shortly after at a home on West 22nd Street.
The three suspects were last seen in a wooded area on Snow Street.
The latest robbery charges are the first details released by police about the circumstances prior to the shooting.
No further information about the robbery was available Saturday.
Smotherson is also wanted for absconding from probation. He was convicted in January of violating a protective order, damage to property and using a firearm in civil disorder.
Kannapolis Police asks anyone with information about the shooting to contact investigators at 704-920-4000 or Crime Stoppers at 704-932-7463.

Contact reporter Nathan Hardin at 704-797-4246.