Man charged with murdering two people on NC Central campus found not guilty
A Durham man accused of fatally shooting two people on North Carolina Central University’s campus when he was 19 years old was found not guilty by a jury.
Dezmond Armond Harper, 21, was facing two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Shamori Brown, 21, and Tavis Rhodes, 20, former Hillside High School students.
At trial, a jury found him not guilty on Sept. 14 after the defense presented a self-defense argument, according to the Durham County District Attorney’s Office.
“At trial, the State must meet the high bar of proving a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and in this case a self-defense argument raised sufficient doubt for the jury to find the defendant not guilty,” District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Sarah Willets said in a statement.
“While it is not the outcome the DA’s Office sought, we respect the jury’s verdict and thank them for their service,” Willets said.
Man charged while in jail for another murder case
The double shooting of Brown and Rhodes happened during an NCCU home football game on Sept. 20, 2021.
They were not N.C. Central students.
Police investigated the shooting around 9 p.m. in the parking lot next to the Latham Parking Deck on East Lawson Street on the campus.
More than 5,600 people at the Eagles’ football game at nearby O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium were placed on lockdown after the shooting.
When Harper was charged with killing Brown and Rhodes, he was already incarcerated in Wake County for the Sept. 7, 2021 shooting of Jewel Dadzie, 26, in a Brier Creek apartment complex, The News & Observer previously reported.
Harper will go to trial on those charges next year, according to court documents.
This story was originally published September 21, 2023 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Man charged with murdering two people on NC Central campus found not guilty."
