In March, Brown pleaded with state lawmakers to meet immediately and address gang violence. "I'm sending an SOS to Raleigh," said Durham County District /*Court Judge Craig Brown*/. "I expect them to hear it."
Brown's call for a special Legislative session came as a surprise in the courtroom where Laurence Lovette made his initial appearance on murder charges in the slaying of Duke University graduate student /*Abhijit Mahato*/.
Police have not said that /*Lovette*/, 17, of Durham, was a member of a gang, or that the deaths of Mahato and University of North Carolina student body president /*Eve Carson*/ were gang related. In both cases, robbery appears to be the primary motive.
Authorities have also charged /*Demario Atwater*/, 21, of Durham, in Carson's death, and /*Stephen Lavance Oates*/, 19, of Durham, in Mahato's killing.
Lovette wasn't a suspect in Mahato's death until after police in Chapel Hill began investigating Carson's slaying. The 22-year-old from Athens, Ga., was found lying in street about a mile from North Carolina's campus shot several times, including once in the temple.
Stay with abc11.com and ABC11 Eyewitness News for the latest on this developing story.
