Five arrests made in Darlington double-murder
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Five people have been arrested for the shooting that took place June 26 at Kirven and Southern Pines Streets in Darlington. On July 11, Aaron Christopher Hall, Shenika Johnson, Juquavis Rahyeem Bailey, Nicholas Dishawn Johnson and Briuana Princess Boone were arrested by the Darlington Police Department. Hall was arrested for two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. Johnson was arrested for accessory after the fact for felony murder. Bailey was arrested for accessory before the fact to felony murder. Boone was arrested for accessory after the fact to murder. At the time, DPD Chief Danny Watson said that he expected another arrest to be made. On July 13, Nicholas D’Shawn Johnson was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Watson said that his officers worked hard collecting evidence and working all angles of the case.
Shenika Johnson
“What we were able to do over a period of time, not only with our physical evidence but also with witness statements, was to break down stories, to break down potential alibis and things like that,” Watson said. “That really led us to paint the picture fully and have an understanding of what happened.”
Watson said that his department made arrests at the appropriate time.
“We live in the freest country in the world so if I am going to take someone’s freedom from them, that’s a very weighty thing,” Watson said. “You want to be sure that you are doing the right thing. You want to be sure that you are making the right case against the right person so that when you go to court, you can win. We can’t release all the information that we have just for the simple fact that you want people to have a fair trial.”
Watson praised the officers in his department, as well as the SLED officers that they received assistance from.
Juquavis Rahyeem Bailey
“We had great partners with State Law Enforcement Division and Lt Valazak with our Investigations section did an outstanding job,” Watson said. “She was very dogged, a stalwart investigator, who just kept going out there, along with the investigators that were assigned in our Patrol Division, who did an exceptional job. They were getting out there and making sure that everything continued to go well and that we didn’t have any new occurrences. We didn’t, which was really great, and they were able to solve this.”
The victims of the shooting were Randolph Malika McClain, 21, and Ahmond Britton, 24, according to Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee. Police were called to the scene around 12:45 on June 26 where they McClain and Britton shot inside of a car. Another victim was taken to the hospital but expected to recover.
Nicholas Dishawn Johnson
Briuana Princess Boone
