Fayetteville man pleads guilty in 2019 fatal parking lot shooting
A Fayetteville man pleaded guilty last week to voluntary manslaughter in the 2020 shooting death of a man he claimed tried to rob him during a drug deal.Andre Devon Roye, 29, of the 1700 block of McGougan Road, will be sentenced on July 31 in the March 27, 2020, death of Domingo Cook, 49, according to court records. Cook was shot multiple times in the parking lot of a Murchison Road convenience store about 12:15 a.m. in an altercation with Roye, who evaded arrest for more than a month, search warrants state.Andre Roye, 29, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in a Fayetteville man's 2020 shooting death.Video surveillance from the store captured the shooting, according to search warrants. Footage showed Cook arriving at the store in a white van, and a light green SUV driven by Roye arriving shortly afterward. After Roye made a purchase at the store’s walk-up window, he was captured returning to his vehicle, with Cook approaching shortly after,
A Fayetteville man pleaded guilty last week to voluntary manslaughter in the 2020 shooting death of a man he claimed tried to rob him during a drug deal.
Andre Devon Roye, 29, of the 1700 block of McGougan Road, will be sentenced on July 31 in the March 27, 2020, death of Domingo Cook, 49, according to court records. Cook was shot multiple times in the parking lot of a Murchison Road convenience store about 12:15 a.m. in an altercation with Roye, who evaded arrest for more than a month, search warrants state.
Video surveillance from the store captured the shooting, according to search warrants. Footage showed Cook arriving at the store in a white van, and a light green SUV driven by Roye arriving shortly afterward. After Roye made a purchase at the store’s walk-up window, he was captured returning to his vehicle, with Cook approaching shortly after, according to search warrants. Cook was seen talking to Roye through the driver’s side window, then getting into the front passenger seat of Roye's SUV, the warrants state.
Minutes later, Roye was seen “frantically” exiting the vehicle before running back to struggle with Cook over a gun through the driver’s side window, according to search warrants. Footage showed Roye taking a gun from Cook and shooting into the SUV four times, the search warrants state.
Video surveillance then showed Cook falling out of the vehicle from the rear driver’s side door on his hands and knees as Roye ran toward him and shot him multiple times, according to the search warrants.
As Cook tried to roll and scoot away, Roye "appeared to have fired the handgun at Cook approximately two more times,” the search warrants state.
Initial coverage: Fayetteville police ID man shot outside Murchison Road convenience store
Roye then got back into his SUV and fled the scene, while an employee of the convenience store called 911 to report the shooting, according to search warrants. Cook was taken to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, where he died from gunshot wounds to the chest, pelvis and both arms, according to the autopsy report.
A witness told police Roye confessed to them, admitting Cook entered the SUV to buy marijuana but pointed a gun at him and tried to rob him, according to the arrest warrant.
Roye reportedly told the witness, “It was either me or him, I had to do what I had to do,” the warrant states.
Weeks-long search
According to court documents, detectives connected Roye’s brother to the shooting just a day after, when he appeared to be selling the SUV involved, later identified as a 2006 Hyundai Tucson, on the “Offer Up” app through an account belonging to the mother of his child.
In spite of multiple news releases and canvasses of the neighborhood where Roye and his brother lived, neither brother could be found, according to search warrants. Neighbors reported they had not seen the pair since the shooting, the warrants said. At the time of Cook's killing, Roye was out on bail on September 2019 charges of assault with a deadly weapon, assault by strangulation and assault on a female, according to court records. Roye was found guilty of assault on a female on Aug. 19, 2021, court records show. The other charges were dismissed.
Search ends: Fayetteville man wanted in shooting turns himself in
Search warrants stated that cellphone records obtained two weeks after the shooting showed Roye’s cellphone pinged to the area of the killing at the time of the homicide. His brother’s phone was not in the area at that time, but both brothers’ phones pinged to their McGougan Road home by 12:59 a.m. that morning, according to the warrants. The next day, by 12:30 p.m., cellphone records showed them traveling north on Interstate 95, eventually arriving in Hartford, Connecticut, the warrants said.
Roye would turn himself in almost a month later, surrendering at the Cumberland County Detention Center with his attorney on May 12, 2020, according to court records.
Assistant District Attorney Billy Lewis said Wednesday the charge stemmed from Roye's claim of self-defense. His sentencing was delayed so Cook's family can be present when Roye is sentenced, Lewis said.
Under N.C. law, Roye could be sentenced later this month to up to 17 years in prison depending on his prior record.
Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville man pleads guilty in 2020 Murchison Road shooting
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