Traffic stop in Graham nets one shooting victim, other suspects
Police in Burlington are looking for a Gibsonville man who allegedly shot two individuals during an altercation at an area nightclub over the weekend.
Meanwhile, their counterparts in Graham have arrested three people, including one of the alleged shooting victims, after they turned up in Graham in a vehicle that had been spotted at the scene of the shooting in Burlington.
According to Burlington’s police department, the shooting occurred at Club Mamba (formally known as the Mamba Events Center), a night spot at 2371 Corporation Parkway, at about 1:00 a.m. on Sunday. In the wake of the incident, officers were able to identify the alleged perpetrator as 19-year-old Kevin Eugene Beckham II of Gibsonville.
They also identified one of the victims as Auldone Edwards, a 21-year-old Reidsville resident, who has since been hospitalized in critical condition.
Less than two hours after the shooting at Club Mamba, members of Graham’s municipal police force noticed a 2006 Hyundai with five occupants that matched the description of a vehicle which had left the scene of the shooting in Burlington. According to Graham’s police department, the vehicle was initially stopped for a registration violation – only to have the driver speed off as the officer approached. The same vehicle was later found abandoned along the 600 block of Ray Street in Graham.
According to Graham’s police department, officers were ultimately able to round up three of the vehicle’s occupants. These individuals include Matthew Jamal Cobb, a 22-year-old Graham resident who was subsequently identified as the second victim of the shooting at Club Mamba. According to Burlington’s police department, Cobb declined treatment for his injuries when he was tracked down in Graham.
Also arrested after the Graham traffic stop were 29-year-old Laronta Roquan Barnes and 28-year-old Hakeem Aljuwon Willis.
According to Graham’s police department, Barnes and Cobb had assaulted two of the officers who took part in the capture. One of the agency’s patrol cars was also reportedly damaged during the dustup. In the meantime, officers discovered a weapons cache in the duo’s possession that included an assault rifle with a magazine that contained armor piercing rounds along with handgun magazines and ammunition.
Due to the circumstances of his arrest, Barnes has been charged with two counts of resisting an officer, fleeing to elude arrest, injury to personal property, identity theft, and the illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.
Cobb, meanwhile, has been charged with felony-level assault on a government official, malicious conduct by a prisoner, injury to personal property, resisting an officer, and the illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon.
Willis, meanwhile, was taken into custody on some outstanding warrants unrelated to this case.
According to Graham’s police department, these two individuals were well known to local law enforcement before long they were implicated in the shootings at Club Mamba.
“Both Cobb and Barnes are known for gang and firearm related activity and multiple involvements with the Graham Police Department,” Captain Tony Velez, the agency’s public information officer, asserted on Monday.
Due to Cobb’s previous criminal record, a district court judge agreed to increase his initial bond of $30,000 to $200,000 when he appeared in court Monday. The judge also raised Barnes’s initial bond of $10,000 to $100,000.
Meanwhile in Burlington, the city’s police department has charged 24-year-old Kareem Dejuan Bethea of Mebane as an accessory to Beckham’s alleged murder attempts at Club Mamba. Bethea has been placed under a $20,000 bond since his arrest.
Beckham himself has remained at large since the shooting on Sunday. According to Burlington’s police department, the 19-year-old Gibsonville resident is wanted on two counts of attempted first degree murder.
Police urge anyone with relevant information about this case to contact the police department at 336-229-3500 or call Crime Stoppers at 336-229-7100 to leave an anonymous tip.
