By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Police have added a murder charge for a China Grove man believed to be involved in the shooting death of Daniel Cooper.
Damarick Harper, 17, was arrested Monday night and initially charged with felony robbery with a dangerous weapon. Tuesday afternoon, Kannapolis Police additionally charged the teenager with murder.
Harper is believed to have been one of three people at the scene when 17-year-old Cooper was shot in the neck during an apparent robbery.
Harper was the second suspect to be identified by investigators. The first, 19-year-old Darius Smotherson, is wanted by police on a murder warrant.
Investigators have released few details surrounding the shooting, and a third suspect has not yet been identified.
Cooper, the passenger in a white Honda Prelude, was shot in the neck on Snow Street in Kannapolis. The driver drove away from the scene, but pulled into a nearby home on West 22nd Street.
Cooper later died of his injuries at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Kannapolis Police Department at 704-920-4000 or Crime Stoppers at 704-932-7463.