South Carolina armed robbery suspect charged with murder in Fayetteville
A South Carolina armed robbery suspect jailed there is charged in the Cedar Creek shooting death Tuesday of 49-year-old Henry Lee Downing Jr., the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said.
Thomas Jermaine Blake, 36, of Andrews, South Carolina, is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting on Ladyslipper Drive, the release said.
According to the Sheriff's Office, the mortally wounded Downing was found by deputies about 12:30 a.m. after someone reported a person had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sheriff's Office on Friday morning said Blake was being held in the Georgetown County, South Carolina, jail.
According to the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, Blake was arrested Wednesday in the armed robbery of a Piggly Wiggly in Andrews, South Carolina. The Sheriff's Office said that at 6 a.m. Sunday, a man on a bicycle approached the manager as she arrived to open the grocery store, pulled a handgun, demanded she open the safe and put money in his backpack. He then fled.
"The suspect told the manager and other employees not to move for five minutes and rode his bicycle toward the intersection of Cherry and North Morgan streets," the release said.
Related: Update: Women no longer sought for questioning in fatal Cumberland County shooting
Georgetown lawmen working the armed robbery case had arrested Blake at the Dillon County, South Carolina, jail where he had been in custody since about 8 a.m. Tuesday on a trespassing charge.
Some eight hours after Downing was killed and a 65-mile, or one-hour drive south from the shooting scene, Dillon County deputies arrested him in the town of Latta after a homeowner on Highway 917 called 911 at 7:47 a.m. Tuesday stating a man was on her porch claiming he had a gun. When deputies arrived, Blake allegedly told them he needed a ride. It was not revealed if he had a weapon on him.
Blake was booked into the Dillon County jail about 8:30 a.m. and was transferred to Georgetown County the following morning, the Dillon County Sheriff's Office said.
He is being held without bail in the Georgetown County Detention Center on two counts of kidnapping, armed robbery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon in the Sunday morning robbery, the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office said.
He will be brought back to North Carolina pending extradition proceedings, the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office said.
A motive for the killing was not released.
Public safety reporter Joseph Pierre can be reached at jpierre@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: South Carolina armed robbery suspect wanted for murder in Fayetteville
