Man found dead Tuesday morning was shooting victim

RALEIGH, N.C. — Police were investigating the death of a man whose body was found lying face-down in front of a parked car in a cul-de-sac in a southeast Raleigh neighborhood Tuesday morning.

Someone called 911 at 6:34 a.m., reporting the body off the 6500 block of Guard Hill Drive in the Battle Ridge at Chastain community, police said.

Authorities identified the man Tuesday afternoon as Christopher Ryan Davis, 19, of Clayton. He had been shot, Raleigh police said.

Resident Tiffany Mangum, a mother of three, said a parent walking a child to a school bus stop found the body.

"Even the kids on the school bus could have seen this guy laying there," Mangum said. "This could have been a tragic moment for them to go the rest of their day with this image in their head."

The crime scene was next to a playground and two houses that are under construction. Neighbors said the body was found near a busy thoroughfare connecting several sections of the neighborhood.

Chris Scarborough, who plays basketball at the playground daily, said he did not see anything suspicious Monday night, but a friend who lives up the street had some equipment stolen from his truck. He couldn't recall a similar crime in the neighborhood but said he's afraid the area is taking a turn for the worse.

"It's becoming a bad one, it looks like. (You) got bodies, people's stuff being stolen – this all happened in one night," Scarborough said.

Mangum said there has been increased policing in the neighborhood lately.

"It makes you feel good to see them, as a homeowner, but you never know if things like this could happen," she said. "This could be an isolated thing. They could have staged it. You just don't know."

Mangum said her thoughts are with Davis's family.

"I feel sorry for the mother of that child, because that's somebody's son, and it's just a sad thing. It makes the day change for you," she said.