Shooting suspect arrested

Published 12:00 am Friday, June 13, 2008

CONWAY – An arrest has been made in connection to a shooting incident that left a man injured here.

Conway Police Chief Billy Wayne Duke said Rumeal Kwamaine Daye, 17 of 202 Martin Street in Conway was arrested Thursday.

Daye’s arrest stems from a shooting that occurred between two groups of people at the Conway Village Apartments last Saturday.

In that incident, Jesse Junior Mason, 38 of Severn, was sitting in a vehicle when he was shot four times, sustaining injuries to his face and chest area.

According to Duke, a call reporting shots had been fired on the apartment complex grounds came in around 8:23 p.m. The dispatcher radioed the description of two dark colored SUV type vehicles that were fleeing the scene.

As Duke was in route to the shooting scene, traveling east on U.S. 158 back into town, he came upon a SUV traveling in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed.

Duke gave pursuit as the vehicle failed to stop for blue lights. Northampton County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson Police Department and Highway Patrol assisted in the pursuit that reached speeds upwards to 100 miles per hour.

Duke said during the chase, the driver, who was reportedly Mason’s son, called central dispatch and told them he had a passenger who had been shot in the vehicle.

The chase ended just outside of Garysburg.

Mason was transported to Halifax Regional Medical Center and then airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville where he was treated and released.

Duke said two other occupants in the vehicle were taken into custody by the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office. As of press time, a call to NCSO by the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald has not been returned.

Daye was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious bodily injury and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle.

He was taken to Northampton County Jail and placed on a $2,000 cash bond. He has been released on bond.

Duke urged those with information to call him at 396-5553 or the Northampton County Crime Stoppers hotline at 534-1110.