The North Carolina man charged with murdering a protester on Wednesday was arrested early Friday morning.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Kerr Putney announced at a press conference that the department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested Rayquan Jamal Borum, 21, about 6:30 a.m. on a first-degree murder charge for allegedly killing Justin Carr, 26. He’s currently in the Mecklenburg County Jail on the murder charge and another pending weapons charge.
“Our crime scene investigators and homicide detectives were able to use a lot of footage,” Putney said, adding that cameras on scene caught evidence on video. “Currently we are still conducting the interviews as the investigation continues, but we already have established probable cause and made that arrest.”
The homicide, which took place amid riots over the police shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, was witnessed by The Daily Beast’s on-scene reporter, Ryan James.
Borum has a long criminal history, according to public records, with previous charges of breaking and/or entering with force, larceny, possession of stolen goods, and resisting a police officer. He was reportedly charged in 2013 with possession of marijuana, possession or transfer of a firearm by a convicted felon, and carrying a pistol without a license.
On social media, Borum went by “pistol quan,” with the nickname emblazoned on t-shirts, as seen in Facebook photos. In a Facebook video posted on July 4, Borum pans over a spread of firearms displayed on his bed.
“Got that hundred round on that bitch,” he says while lifting up a machine pistol.
On Wednesday night, Borum presumably used one of those same guns to allegedly fire in Carr’s direction around 8:30 p.m., fatally striking him in the head. The shooter held his pistol steady before fleeing the area.
Carr remained in critical condition for fewer than 24 hours before he was finally pronounced dead at the Carolinas Medical Center.
On Thursday morning, Justin Carr’s mother, Ann Carr, wrote on Facebook that she felt “numb.”
She wrote, “As I lay by his side and Praying real hard because my baby is fighting for his Life! ...My baby was shot in the head for no apparent reason! I don't know who did this but Lord please bring my baby through this.”
A makeshift memorial of candles and flowers remained at the site of Carr’s shooting on Thursday night, after he slipped away.
