Teen charged with involuntary manslaughter in Thanksgiving shooting death
Published 4:58 pm Sunday, November 25, 2018
Staff report
SALISBURY — The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office arrested and charged a 17-year-old Salisbury man Sunday in the Thanksgiving Day shooting death of Tyjuan “T.J.” Gibson.
Charged with felony involuntary manslaughter is Talib Latrell Kelly, 17, of 345 S. Oakhurst Drive. He was placed in the Rowan County Detention Center Sunday under $10,000 bond.
Also charged in connection to this case is Joseph Daquan Scott, 20, of 3285 Lincoln Ave., Spencer, which is where Gibson reportedly suffered the gunshot wound that proved fatal.
Authorities charged Scott with making a false police report, and he was placed in jail under a $1,500 bond.
A Sheriff’s Office press release said the investigation into the shooting continues and more arrests are possible.
The release said Kelly and Gibson were with several other people Thanksgiving Day afternoon at Scott’s house, where several firearms were present.
“During the course of this event, Talib Kelly possessed a handgun, and the weapon discharged,” with the bullet striking Gibson, the report said.
Kelly and another person transported Gibson to Novant Health Rowan in Scott’s vehicle. Gibson later was pronounced dead at the hospital. Kelly and the person who accompanied him left the hospital after Gibson was taken into the emergency room, according to reports.
The Sheriff’s office release said detectives spent the weekend identifying and locating Kelly and other witnesses in the case.
Meanwhile, Scott made a report to the Sheriff’s Office that his car was stolen after the shooting and said he knew the people at his house only “by street name,” the release said.
Investigators used a sheriff’s K-9 and tracked down a 12-gauge pump shotgun in the woods behind the Lincoln Avenue residence.
They also came across Scott’s vehicle abandoned near the home of one of Scott’s relatives on Vanderford Street in Salisbury.
“An additional handgun was seized by deputies from a residence off Institute Street in Salisbury that was removed from the crime scene after the shooting,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
