A 19-year-old man accused of shooting and killing a Gastonia teenager told family that he shot someone who was trying to rob him, according to search warrant affidavits.
Brandon Octavius Cunningham, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 16-year-old Jerard Arquello Reid Jr. of Gastonia, came under investigation Jan. 17 after his sister called the police and said that Cunningham had come home and told family that someone tried to rob him, and he shot them, according to an affidavit written by Detective H.B. Houser.
Cunningham’s vehicle, a white Dodge Charger, matched the vehicle seen in surveillance footage at a Circle K convenience store on Cox Road, according to Houser.
A witness at the Circle K told police that he saw the Dodge Charger in the parking lot near a gas pump, and he heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the car. Then, the car left the parking lot.
Reid was found in the middle of the road with multiple gunshot wounds.
Inside Cunningham’s Dodge Charger, police found two firearms on the front seat, bullet holes inside the vehicle, and shell casings, Houser wrote.