FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) – A 27-year-old, Nekea Brooks was one of two people shot and killed in a Monday morning shooting in Fayetteville.
Brook’s Aunt, Latonya Graham said Brooks was killed in the yard of a townhome on Aftonshire Drive and was two months pregnant.
Graham is heartbroken after hearing what happened to her niece.
“We are all just tore up about this. It’s very heartbreaking. A senseless death. It’s senseless that people can go around here thinking that they can play God and just take people’s lives,” Graham said.
Graham said Brooks was visiting her unborn child’s father, 33-year-old Marchellous Braddy. Graham said someone came inside the townhouse and killed Braddy and chased her niece outside. Police said neither Brooks nor Braddy lived at the address.
Monday evening, a Toyota Camry linked to the deaths was found on Blount Street in Smithfield in Johnston County. The car was towed back to Fayetteville for homicide detectives to check for evidence, Fayetteville police said.
Braddy is a Raeford resident. The owner of the townhome called 911 after discovering Braddy’s body, shortly after midnight on Monday.
Graham said her niece didn’t deserve to be killed.
“Nakea was trying to leave whenever she got shot. She was scared. She didn’t know what was going on. She tried to run and go to safety, and she was gunned down like an animal,” she said. “This was a senseless death.
Police have not said what the circumstances are surrounding the two deaths. However, officers did confirm it’s not a random incident. One neighbor, Cassandra Minor, said she’s not surprised by the violence.
“This is the hood. This is a rough neighborhood. The police patrol all the time because of the activities that go on in this neighborhood,” Minor said.
Regardless of the situation, she said these two lives should have never been taken.
“(There’s) always a way you can sit down and talk about it before you shoot somebody or murder somebody,” Minor said.
Brooks’ family hopes officers make an arrest sooner than later, so they can have peace and justice. Brooks also leaves behind a six-year-old daughter.