3 charged in shooting death of 22-year-old at Raleigh community center

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Three men have been charged in the shooting death of 22-year-old Quadir Ford near a Raleigh community center Monday afternoon.

Raleigh police said Tuesday evening that Nicholas Raymond Holloway, 21, Eric Michael Scott, 22, and Gerald Thomas, 23, have been charged with murder in connection with Ford's death.

All three are residents of Youngsville.

Ford went to Worthdale Community Center Monday to play some basketball and was gunned down in the parking lot.

RELATED: Man fatally shot while going to play basketball at Raleigh community center

In a 911 call released to ABC11 on Tuesday, a caller inside the rec center tells the dispatcher three men appeared to be involved in the shooting; one of them ran into the woods as the other drove up Cooper Road in a black sedan.

"It just made me so sad for the family and also finding out that his brother was there and had to see it is just unbelievable," said Allison Vick who lives in the Worthdale neighborhood. "I can't imagine."

As police investigated outside, Ford's younger brother emerged from the community center Monday where he'd waited for his girlfriend and her mom to pick him up.

One neighbor who runs a daycare from her home across the street often takes the children to the rec center or adjacent park in the middle of the day.

"You think a park is supposed to be safe," said Sonya Grantham-Griffis. "You would think of a park or a community center as a safe place that you can go to or take the kids."

Raleigh police records show that during the past years, there have been seven calls for service to the 1000 block of Cooper Road related to a violent crime, three of them were for shots fired, not including the shooting that killed Ford.

The deadly mid-day shooting is what will dominate the conversation at the Worthdale Neighborhood Association's monthly meeting Tuesday night.

"It does give me some comfort knowing that we'll be able to talk about it and hopefully come together as a community to support this family and make sure that this kind of thing isn't representative of the neighborhood that we are a part of because it never has been before," Vick said.

CONCERNED NEIGHBORS TALK COMMUNITY SAFETY

Inside Worthdale Community Center, Tuesday night, the shooting and how to make this typically quiet section of southeast Raleigh safer were big points of discussion. Neighbors brainstormed ways to beef up community safety.

Someone suggested the city build a police substation in the neighborhood. Someone brought up putting neighborhood watch signs on every home.

Others stressed the serious need to address the systematic causes of the violence -- keeping young people engaged, employed, and off the streets.

"As a community, we need to address the problem. And policing is not the answer," said Worthdale resident Calla Wright. "We want safety. But there's a plethora of issues we need to address."

"I want to know what can be done to help some of these kids. (The victim was) 22-years-old -- I know a lot of things I could do to help. So bring them down, I think we can talk about some things," Queen Hargrove said.

"I think it's more of an ongoing conversation. I don't know if we can answer everything tonight. But it's just good that we all tried to come together and start that conversation," said Arlen Mabe.

One thing neighbors agreed on is they want a meeting with Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown as soon as possible. The group agreed to make an urgent request to RPD.