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Man charged in slaying of Illinois boy
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By CHERYL WITTENAUER
Associated Press Writer
O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) - A manhunt ended Thursday in this St. Louis suburb with the capture of a man charged in Illinois in the drive-by slaying of a 12-year-old boy who investigators said died while doing school work in his home.
Marcus Powell, 27, was found in a shed at the Runny Meade Estates mobile home park, police said.
Mobile home park resident Bruce Koelling, 44, witnessed the capture around 10:15 a.m. He said about 45 officers converged on the shed, after sending in a police dog. Officers followed with guns drawn and emerged with the suspect. Koelling said he heard Powell yell, but it appeared he surrendered peacefully.
Prosecutors in Madison County, Ill., charged Powell Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder in the Tuesday shooting death of Delarrian Davis of Madison, Ill. He also was charged with attempted murder.
Powell eluded authorities wanting to question him about Delarrian's death until he surfaced Thursday morning in St. Charles County.
Capt. Brad Wells with the Madison County Sheriff's Department said investigators received a tip that Powell could be found at a Wentzville home.
Police then tried to stop a stolen vehicle with Powell in it in St. Charles County. Powell's vehicle burst through a barricade, and he led police on a pursuit on Interstate 70. He dumped the vehicle in O'Fallon, and fled on foot, Wells said.
Several schools nearby either closed for the day or were placed on lockdown during the manhunt.
Police had stopped vehicles trying to pass through the search area, checking backseats and trunks for any sign of Powell.
Investigators of the slaying early Tuesday morning believe Powell was not targeting the boy when he allegedly fired into the home but may have merely shot into it in hopes of wounding Kevin Campbell, a man who was living there with the boy's mother, said Stephanee Smith, a spokeswoman for the Madison County, Ill., prosecutor's office.
“It was a senseless shooting,” Wells said Thursday. “He was sitting behind the door of his own house, windows shut, minding his own business.”
He said there was evidence of homework, with pencils and paper found inside the home. “Marcus Powell drove by and shot inside,” he said.
He said three other children, ages 12 to 16, also were in the house. No adults were home at the time.
The gunfire apparently was the latest violent exchange over a period of a few hours between Powell and 27-year-old Campbell. Wells said there was a long-standing “street feud” between the men. He said Campbell was the boyfriend of Delarrian's mother and lived in her home.
Late Monday night, Smith said, Powell and Campbell traded gunfire outside a tavern less than a quarter of a mile from the house where Delarrian was later killed. It's not immediately clear whether either man was wounded.
On Thursday, Madison County, Ill., prosecutors charged Campbell, 27, of Madison, Ill., with armed violence, aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He remained jailed on $250,000 bond.
A third man, Cortez Davis, 25, of East St. Louis, Ill., was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm. Wells said Davis, whom he described as an “associate of Powell's,” had been in the vehicle with Powell during the Monday night shooting.
No bond has been set for Powell, who is being held in a cell at the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department before extradition to Illinois.
It's not clear if the men charged have attorneys.
Powell already was awaiting trial on charges that he tried to kill Delarrian's mother during a shooting in April 2007, when prosecutors in St. Clair County, Ill., allege he wounded her and another woman, the Belleville News-Democrat reported Thursday. Both women survived.
Powell was free on bond on those two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Messages left Thursday with St. Clair County prosecutors were not immediately returned.
Associated Press writers Jim Suhr and Betsy Taylor in St. Louis contributed to this story.
Marcus Powell, 27, was found in a shed at the Runny Meade Estates mobile home park, police said.
Mobile home park resident Bruce Koelling, 44, witnessed the capture around 10:15 a.m. He said about 45 officers converged on the shed, after sending in a police dog. Officers followed with guns drawn and emerged with the suspect. Koelling said he heard Powell yell, but it appeared he surrendered peacefully.
Prosecutors in Madison County, Ill., charged Powell Thursday with two counts of first-degree murder in the Tuesday shooting death of Delarrian Davis of Madison, Ill. He also was charged with attempted murder.
Powell eluded authorities wanting to question him about Delarrian's death until he surfaced Thursday morning in St. Charles County.
Capt. Brad Wells with the Madison County Sheriff's Department said investigators received a tip that Powell could be found at a Wentzville home.
Police then tried to stop a stolen vehicle with Powell in it in St. Charles County. Powell's vehicle burst through a barricade, and he led police on a pursuit on Interstate 70. He dumped the vehicle in O'Fallon, and fled on foot, Wells said.
Several schools nearby either closed for the day or were placed on lockdown during the manhunt.
Police had stopped vehicles trying to pass through the search area, checking backseats and trunks for any sign of Powell.
Investigators of the slaying early Tuesday morning believe Powell was not targeting the boy when he allegedly fired into the home but may have merely shot into it in hopes of wounding Kevin Campbell, a man who was living there with the boy's mother, said Stephanee Smith, a spokeswoman for the Madison County, Ill., prosecutor's office.
“It was a senseless shooting,” Wells said Thursday. “He was sitting behind the door of his own house, windows shut, minding his own business.”
He said there was evidence of homework, with pencils and paper found inside the home. “Marcus Powell drove by and shot inside,” he said.
He said three other children, ages 12 to 16, also were in the house. No adults were home at the time.
The gunfire apparently was the latest violent exchange over a period of a few hours between Powell and 27-year-old Campbell. Wells said there was a long-standing “street feud” between the men. He said Campbell was the boyfriend of Delarrian's mother and lived in her home.
Late Monday night, Smith said, Powell and Campbell traded gunfire outside a tavern less than a quarter of a mile from the house where Delarrian was later killed. It's not immediately clear whether either man was wounded.
On Thursday, Madison County, Ill., prosecutors charged Campbell, 27, of Madison, Ill., with armed violence, aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He remained jailed on $250,000 bond.
A third man, Cortez Davis, 25, of East St. Louis, Ill., was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm. Wells said Davis, whom he described as an “associate of Powell's,” had been in the vehicle with Powell during the Monday night shooting.
No bond has been set for Powell, who is being held in a cell at the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department before extradition to Illinois.
It's not clear if the men charged have attorneys.
Powell already was awaiting trial on charges that he tried to kill Delarrian's mother during a shooting in April 2007, when prosecutors in St. Clair County, Ill., allege he wounded her and another woman, the Belleville News-Democrat reported Thursday. Both women survived.
Powell was free on bond on those two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Messages left Thursday with St. Clair County prosecutors were not immediately returned.
Associated Press writers Jim Suhr and Betsy Taylor in St. Louis contributed to this story.
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