| Viewing Single Post From: Blog and Media Roundup - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | |
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| abb | Jun 30 2009, 04:45 AM |
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-1176719.cfm Slaying shocks those who knew victim, suspect BY KEITH UPCHURCH : The Herald-Sun kupchurch@heraldsun.com Jun 30, 2009 Bookmark and Share DURHAM -- A 56-year-old man will be charged with murder in the shooting death of his half-brother following an apparent argument between the men at their mother's house in the Crest Street neighborhood, police said on Monday. The Saturday evening shooting at 18 Zelko Court, a few blocks behind the VA Medical Center on Erwin Road, took the life of Joseph Best, 40, of the same address. His half-brother, Lewis Scarlette, who also lived there, was arrested at the scene after officers were called at 5:11 p.m. Saturday. They found Best lying on the steps when they arrived. Best was taken to Duke University Hospital, where he died Sunday. Scarlette was initially charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, and placed in the Durham County Jail under a $500,000 bond. But the charge will be changed to murder, police said on Monday. Jail records indicated Scarlette was in jail under the $500,000 bond Monday evening. In interviews Monday afternoon, the victim's cousin and next-door neighbor described Best as likeable and hard-working. They said they were shocked by his death. "I was out of town at the beach and my brother called and told me," said Dewayne Scarlette, who grew up with Best in the Crest Street neighborhood. "I couldn't believe it. I didn't think it had happened, because he was a very giving person. He was well-known and well-liked." Scarlette said Best had worked at the Searle Center at Duke University for years and later worked "in research." He said the two had spent a lot of time together through the years. "We used to hang around together all the time," he said. "I've been here [at his home] a lot of times. Spent the night here a lot of times. I ain't never seen no feud going on or anything like that. I just don't know what happened." He said Best called him on the phone hours before he died. "He called me Saturday around 11 a.m. and I told him I was out of town, and I wouldn't be back until Monday. And may five or six o'clock, my brother called me and told me: 'Joseph Best got shot in the back.' " Best's next-door neighbor, Timothy Goodwin, said he wasn't home when the shooting took place. But he said the death was a shock. "He was a very likeable person,' Goodwin said. "A popular guy. A working man. Both of them were hard-working guys. Somebody just lost it. It's very sad." "The person who shot him -- he's a good guy, been working his whole life," Goodwin said. "Don't bother anybody. So, it's just sad that both of her sons who were living with her -- one of them has gone to heaven, and the other one is facing a murder charge. It's like she lost two boys in one day." |
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| Blog and Media Roundup - Tuesday, June 30, 2009 · DUKE LACROSSE - Liestoppers | |
1:36 PM Dec 5
