CRIME

Two Fort Bragg Soldiers Arrested in Connection With Restaurant Double Homicide

Three men—including two active-duty Army soldiers—have been arrested after an eleven-day manhunt for the killers of two men in a restaurant parking lot.

North Carolina police on Saturday arrested three men—including two active-duty Army soldiers at the world’s largest military installation—in connection with a gruesome double homicide outside of a local restaurant, ending an eleven-day manhunt.

Ferris Brown, 20, Daivon Tahjai Chambers, 19, and Javier Rashad Johnson, 19, were arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, and two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery, according to a statement by Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins. Both Brown and Johnson are soldiers on active duty stationed at nearby Fort Bragg.

All three of Cook and Goodman’s alleged killers have been held without bond. Brown is stationed with the 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment and Javier Johnson is with the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

A spokesperson for Fort Bragg did not immediately return a request for comment regarding the arrests. Brown, Chambers, and Johnson are currently being held at Cumberland County Detention Center.

The apprehension of the three suspects comes after multiple requests by the department for potential witnesses to the shooting deaths of Dareon Tyrese Cook, 18, and Jonathan David Goodman, 32, to come forward.

Cook and Goodman were found shot inside a parked car in front of the Smokey Bones Restaurant on September 5th, as police were making routine security checks of area businesses. Emergency medial personnel were brought to the scene, as well as members of the Fayetteville Police Department’s homicide unit.

Cook, one of twelve children, was pronounced dead at the scene, while Goodman, known as “Wish” to his friends, clung to life for two more days at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center before succumbing to his injuries.

“Our hearts are broken,” Cook’s mother, Erica Cook, said in a statement accompanying a request for assistance in paying for her teenage son’s funeral. “Much prayers are need.”

The restaurant where Cook and Goodman were discovered has previously been the scene of gun violence: In May of last year, Terekus Derrell Rogers was charged with attempted first-degree murder after allegedly shooting 21-year-old Algeria Khalyid McNair in the face, neck, and knee following what police then called a drug deal gone bad.

The shootings were the third and fourth in Fayetteville in a three-day span, and the 17th and 18th homicides reported in the city this year.

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Scott Bixby

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