BEAUMONT, Texas — Beaumont Police arrested 23-year-old Andre Williams II for the murder of 24-year-old Gregory Carrington on October 13.
Carrington was shot and killed in the middle of the street early Sunday morning after leaving a club named Tha Shack. Beaumont Police say Carrington tried to get away and collapsed in the parking lot of Honey's Drive-In, a gas station on Concord Road.
"Was disturbance that happened, on the premises of Tha Shack, that carried out into the street and a shooting actually happened in the street," said Beaumont Police Sergeant Tom Swope.
12News spoke to people who knew Carrington. They told us, the violence must stop.
Leroy Griffin has lived in Beaumont's north end his whole life and was an acquaintance of Carrington. He says he's tired of young people killing each other over little things and hopes things start to change now.
"It's nothing wrong with them congregating after the club closes. Nothing wrong with that. What's wrong with it is the violence. You know, you're going to wait and kill somebody," Griffin said.
12News was on the scene at Honey's Drive-In gas station before police arrived.
"And Mr. Carrington, he stumbled onto the Honey [Drive-In] property that was closed at the time," Swope said.
It was there that Carrington died. Griffin knew Carrington and he says the young man didn't deserve to die like that.
"Mindful kid, he was very mindful," Griffin said.
On Monday, October 14 Beaumont Police arrested Williams II for Carrington's murder. Police say he turned himself in after seeing his picture on the news.
"I love my family, sorry for [their] loss," said Williams II.
Williams II tells 12News he wasn't in the right frame of mind when he pulled the trigger.
"I wasn't in my right state of mind, simplest thing," Williams II said.
Beaumont Police say they take extra steps to deter crimes like this.
"And we get police presence in the area to make sure that everybody does disburse on time, gets home safely. And sometimes these large crowds, sometimes they get out of hand and these fights, altercations happen," Swope said.
Griffin hopes young people will stop killing each other.
"My condolences go to the family. To not just this family to all the families, that [have] lost a loved one over in this area, behind dumb stuff," said Griffin.
Beaumont Police and Councilman Audwin Samuels say police will be able to help deter and solve crimes like these faster, if more businesses integrate their cameras into the city's Real Time Crime Center.