ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WNCN) — Rocky Mount Police arrested a man Monday in one of three weekend shootings.
Detectives identified 26-year-old Daquan Johnson as the suspect in a Sunday shooting on West Raleigh Boulevard that left 29-year-old Reggie Joyner injured.
According to investigators, Johnson and Joyner were involved in a brief verbal altercation at a nearby store. As Joyner was driving away, Johnson ran behind his vehicle and fired one shot from a handgun. The bullet entered the vehicle and struck Joyner in the back.
On Monday, Johnson surrendered himself to the Edgecombe County Magistrate. He was issued a $25,000 secured bond, then subsequently bonded out and released from custody.
Following a thorough review, detectives determined there is no connection between this incident and any other recent incidents that occurred within the city over the weekend.
As Rocky Mount Police continue to actively investigate what they call multiple unrelated weekend shootings, the parents of one young man prepare to lay him to rest while they pray for answers.
Rocky Mount police say Ryo Steele,19, of Nashville, NC and La’ren Dickens, 20, of Rocky Mount died.
They were hanging out with other young people at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, located at 800 East Virginia St., when someone started shooting around 3 a.m. Sunday.
“That’s my son. They killed my son.”
Derrick Steele rushed to MLK Park and live streamed the crime scene on social media as his son’s body, covered with a white cloth, lay in the parking lot.
“That’s my son laying right there.”
Steele says someone shot up his son Ryo’s car before he tried to literally run for his life.
“He hadn’t been there five minutes, and bullets started coming out the woods. Somebody jumped out the car and shot his car up. And with him doing all that he [Ryo] jumped out of his car,” Steele said.
In the video, several evidence markers show where apparent bullet casings lay in the parking lot.
“It definitely was a hate crime,” Ryo’s mom, Xaviera Steele said. “Are you saying it was racial? You know I experienced that before, last week. But the root of it is hate. If we can get hate out of our hearts, we can change the world.”
Mrs. Steele says she smiles now because her heart is filled with wonderful memories of her son, who had completed his first year in college and was working as an electrician.
“He was my pride and joy for sure,” Ryo’s mother said.
She says she draws her strength of steel, as she calls it, from her three other children and from her son Ryo Steele’s legacy.
“He was a good boy, very respectful,” Xaviera Steel said. “I’m still proud of him. I’m gonna keep his legacy alive.”
The Steeles moved to Nash County several years ago from Durham to get away from violence only to ironically lose their eldest son at MLK Park, which honors the civil rights leader’s legacy of non-violence.
The Rocky Mount Police Department also said another man was grazed by a bullet before 9 p.m. Saturday at a Buffalo Wild Wings on Ring Road.
Ryo Steele’s family has setup a GoFundMe page to help pay for his funeral service.
