Chad Cameron Copley, a 39-year-old white North Raleigh, N.C. man, was arraigned at a Raleigh court on murder charges Monday (Aug. 8) after shooting and killing a 20-year-old Black man. Just moments before the shooting, Copley complained to 911 of “hoodlums” outside his home before apparently taking matters into his own hands.
The Charlette Observer reports:
Minutes before a 20-year-old Raleigh man was mortally wounded outside a North Raleigh home early Sunday, a man called from inside the house to say there was a “bunch of hoodlums” outside and that he was “locked and loaded” and going to secure his neighborhood, according to a recording of the 911 call released Monday.
“You need to send PD as quickly as possible,” the man told the dispatcher. “I’m on neighborhood watch. I’m gonna have the neighbors with me. There’s hoodlums out here racing up and down the street. It’s 1 o’clock in the morning, um, there’s some vandalism.”
Later Sunday, police charged the home’s owner, Chad Cameron Copley, 39, with first-degree murder. Investigators say he was inside his garage on Singleleaf Lane when he fired a shotgun, hitting Kouren-Rodney Bernard Thomas, who was outside.
The report adds that Thomas was attending a party just doors away from Copley’s home according to witness David Walker, also 20. Walker explained that he and Thomas were set to head home when his friend ran off after seeing what he thought were police lights. Walker said Thomas was in possession of marijuana and was hoping to avoid charges by running back to his friend’s car.
Walker said in the midst of Thomas running, he heard one lone gunshot much to the shock of he and others who were outside. According to the 911 call transcripts, Copley said he saw the group of Black men outside his home brandishing a firearm and said he fired his warning shot ordained by law in order to “protect [himself] and my family.”
The shot was fired from inside Copley’s garage. One teenage witness who lived at the home where the party took place said that nobody had guns nor was there any shouting or loud noises.
This story will continue to develop and we will return with updates.
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Photo: CCBI
