Second arrest made in Lewis homicide

Published 9:41 pm Friday, August 13, 2010

A second arrest has been made in the homicide of 18-year-old TyQuan Lewis, Suffolk police announced Friday.

Randy Sherrod Copeland Jr., 19, of the 100 block of Niblick Circle, has been charged with murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, Suffolk spokeswoman Debbie George said in a press release.

Dontaz Latray Wilkerson, also 19, was arrested the day of the shooting.

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“Investigation suggests that Copeland was present at the time of the shooting and provided Dontaz Wilkerson with the firearm used,” George wrote in the release.

Copeland, like Wilkerson, is being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail with no bond.

According to Suffolk police, both Lewis and Wilkerson were attending a party in the 100 block of Manning Road early in the morning of Aug. 1 when a large fight broke out. Both were believed to have been involved in the fight.

The incident reportedly began at the party at the Bethlehem Ruritan clubhouse, which had been rented for a back-to-school party for a college student. At 12:43 a.m., a female 911 caller said there was a fight at the party, and that some people had guns.

According to George, Lewis and Wilkerson left the party and met up on Spruce Street, where they again argued. They departed that location and finally met again on Walnut Street. A 911 call at 1:38 a.m. reported shots fired.

“There was some communication where they knew where to find each other,” George said of the victim and the suspect.

She said there is no indication that Lewis was armed.

Wilkerson was charged with one count of first-degree murder, one count use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, one count possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, one count shoot, cut, three counts attempted malicious wounding and one count discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school.

Lewis, 18, was a Lakeland High School student and multi-sport star for the Cavaliers.