Suspect in Biltmore Village shootings surrenders

ASHEVILLE — A man wanted in connection with a double shooting in Biltmore Village surrendered to authorities Wednesday afternoon.

Bryant DeAngelo Sanders, 21, turned himself in at the Buncombe County Courthouse, Asheville police Sgt. Dave Romick said.

Warrants against Sanders included two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, and two counts of discharging a weapon into occupied property inflicting serious injury.

The shootings happened shortly after 2:30 p.m. Monday in front of Chico's clothing store at 10 Brook St., just off Sweeten Creek Road. The victims, Denzel McKnight, 21, and Jerry McSwain Jr., 20, were transported to Mission Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The victims and the suspect were involved in some sort of altercation right before the shots were fired, Lamb said.

According to Lamb's account, "Multiple witnesses reported seeing a burgundy sedan pull alongside the victims' vehicle, which was stopped in traffic in front of 10 Brook Street. Then the suspect fired into the car."

The victims managed to drive their car to a parking lot at nearby Rezaz restaurant, 28 Hendersonville Road.

A group of prominent anti-violence activists including local ministers had called for Sanders to turn himself in.

One of the ministers, the Rev. Keith Ogden, also gave details about the victims' conditions and used the incident to highlight the need for residents to communicate when crimes have happened and to reduce gun availability.

Ogden made the comments during a Wednesday meeting of the Stop the Violence Coalition at Hill Street Baptist Church, where he is minister. The coalition meeting was coupled with a city public meeting seeking residents' input on the next police chief.

Ogden tried to close the coalition portion of the meeting to the press, keeping out a WLOS camera operator and reporter. When he realized a Citizen-Times reporter was present, he asked that his comments not be reported, saying he was afraid they'd be "taken out of context."

During the meeting and in an interview afterward, Ogden said he has met with families of the victims. McKnight has a family member at Hill Street Baptist, he said.

He described McKnight's injuries, saying he had been shot in the mouth and the bullet had cut a major artery.

He didn't detail McSwain's injuries but said the victim had reacted by squeezing the hand of a family member.

He called for people to pray and said, "I think it's a miracle that the mothers of both of those children aren't holding funerals."

One of the victims and Sanders have family members currently enrolled at Erwin High, he said.

McKnight played football at Asheville High and Erwin. Senior year at Erwin (2011 season), he caught 56 passes for 782 yards and 15 touchdowns. McSwain played basketball at Asheville High, and averaged 10.8 points per game his senior season (2013).

Ogden said it was important that shootings be promptly reported. This incident occurred in a high-traffic area of an upscale shopping district. But in other cases, Ogden said, residents needed to be convinced not "to wait a whole month before reporting an incident."

He proposed setting up an anonymous hotline at the church.

Sanders is being held at the Buncombe County Detention Facility under a $700,000 secured bond.