Mother of wounded children says police arrested wrong man

John Tarver, 23, of 204-B N. Driver St., and Arthur Clendenning, 24, of North Hyde Park Avenue, made their first court appearances Thursday morning on charges in the case.

Au-Nestii Hagans, 1, was shot in the arm, and Anaryiion Hagans, 3, was shot in the hand when someone opened fire on North Driver Street on Oct. 23. The two children were inside a home at 204-A N. Driver St. at the time.

The children's mother, Dominique Hagans, insisted in court that Clendenning was with her sister and others on the afternoon of the shooting and couldn't have been involved.

Chandria Myers said after the court hearing that Clendenning was the person who called 911 to report the shooting. He was with her and others in a house across the street from the scene of the shooting, Myers said.

Police say Tarver shot Tavarez Brown on Oct. 17 on Fern Street. They think Brown, Clendenning and a third man drove along Driver Street and targeted Tarver in retaliation.

Tarver was standing on his porch, and the bullets missed him and went through the wall into the other side of the duplex, wounding the two children, police said. When Tarver returned fire, he mistakenly shot Troy Lee Howard, 48, who was visiting family a few houses away, in the leg, police said.

Tarver told WRAL News the day after the shooting that he didn't know anything about the crime.

Gary McCrae, who is Howard's cousin, also said he saw Clendenning outside a house across the street when the shooting occurred, so he couldn't have been in the car with the gunmen.

"Arthur didn't have anything to do with it. Arthur was home with his kids," McCrae said.

Durham police are still trying to sort out who fired the shots, but Clendenning's involvement is part of the ongoing investigation, Lt. Patrice Vickers said.

During the first few days of the investigation, Durham police complained that they were getting little help from people in the neighborhood, but on Thursday, investigators credited residents for providing the tips that led to the charges in the case.

"Everyone realized we're here for the same common goal, and that's to stop these individuals from ever being able to do this ever again and have some closure for our victims," Vickers said. "Since the initial statement we had given, I think the community heard. I think they really heard and understood (that) this is our cry for, 'We need your help.'"

Jaunarais King, 23, of Kent Lake Drive, turned himself into authorities on Thursday night. He was being held under a $1.5 million bond in the Durham County jail. His first court appearance is Friday at 10 a.m.

Brown, 24, of Spruce Street, was not in custody Thursday. Police asked that anyone with information on his whereabouts call the Durham Police Department at 919-560-4281, extension, 29123, or Crime Stoppers at 919-683-1200.

Clendenning, Brown and King are each charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling.

Tarver is charged with two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon for the Fern Street and Driver Street shootings.

Tarver was being held in the Durham County jail under a $1.5 million bond, while Clendenning was being held under a $2 million bond.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a way of knowing what someone is going to do one day to the next and how arguments are going to be resolved," Vickers said. "We have to send the message that gun violence, using violence to solve your problems is not the way."