2 men and a woman charged with drive-by killing of 23-year-old in Durham

Mark Schultz
·2 min read
The Durham Police Department has arrested three people in the killing of Dashaun Johnson, 23, of Durham, on Sept. 15, 2024 on Dubonnet Place.

The Durham Police Department has arrested and charged three people with murder in an apparent drive-by killing of a 23-year-old Durham man in September.

Officers responded to a reported shooting around 6 p.m. Sept. 15 near Glenbrook Drive and Dubonnet Place.

They found Dashaun Khilief Johnson at his home with two gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy report from the N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office. The autopsy could not tell the distance from which the gun was fired.

Johnson was unresponsive and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the report stated

Indictments kept secret

A grand jury indicted Marcus Beatty Jr., 22, Elijah Page, 20, and Simone Cameron, 19, on Nov. 4 on a charge of first-degree murder, according to a Police Department news release.

The indictments were sealed, or ordered to be kept secret, by a judge until the suspects were arrested to keep them from finding out and fleeing, court records show.

Both Beatty and Cameron have also been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, the news release stated.

Investigators learned the shooting was connected to an argument and earlier shooting the night before in which three people were injured, none fatally, the autopsy report stated.

The shooting that killed Johnson the next night appeared to be a drive-by, with multiple bullet casings of different calibers found at the scene, the report stated.

All three suspects are being held in the Durham County jail without bail.

Homicides down in Durham

As of Nov. 2, there had been 31 reported homicides in Durham.

That was down from 42 homicides by the same date in 2023 and 39 in 2022, police statistics show.

Police ask anyone with information about this case to contact Investigator J. Kellar at 919-560-4440 ext. 29306 or CrimeStoppers at 919-683-1200 or online at durhamcrimestoppers.org.

CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards of up to $2,000 for information leading to arrests in felony cases, and callers never have to identify themselves.

Latest Stories