Evangelous pleads for community’s help after pair of murders; one suspect in custody

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington’s police chief made an emotional appeal to the community after two men were shot and killed since early Sunday morning.

One suspect is in custody without bond after turning himself in to face a murder charge from yesterday’s shooting on Market Street in Wilmington, Chief Ralph Evangelous said at a morning news conference.

Evangelous said late Tuesday morning Ali Iquan Dameish Rouse, 21, and a woman drove into an apartment complex on Market Street when Montrell Dyshawn Sweet approached the car and an argument began. Investigators say Sweet shot at Rouse, who was still in the car. Rouse then drove off and crashed into another car and a wall in the 1900 block of Market Street, where he died.

Montrell Dyshawn Sweet (Source: WPD)

Evangelous said Sweet, 21, and the woman have a child together, and that the whole incident stemmed from a domestic dispute.

Evangelous said while there are gang ties in this case, he said “this is not quote ‘gang related.'”

The chief said soon after the shooting WPD’s Intelligence Unit discovered there may be plans to retaliate. He said that will not be tolerated.

“We will use any means at our disposal to stop this,” Evangelous said. “Enough is enough.”

This was not the first time Rouse had been involved in a shooting. Last November, Rouse and another man were shot in a drive-by in front of a home on Princess Place Drive.

Rouse was the second murder victim since early Sunday morning, when police found Lutfee Muitsin Henderson, 33, dead in a late model BMW at the intersection of 6th and Kidder Streets around 2:30 a.m. Today police said the two crimes are not connected and were not gang-related, but were not random acts of violence.

Evangelous said these are the sixth and seventh homicides in the Port City this year after the coroner reclassified an earlier investigation into the death of a West Virginia man as an accidental death.

An emotional Evangelous said the gun violence in Wilmington has to stop, and pleaded for the community to help saying, “The silence is deafening.”

“Where’s the outcry in our community? Where are the protests now?” Evangelous said. “God forbid an officer was involved.”