SBI submits Cox findings to DA's office

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Jimmy Tomlin, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·3 min read
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Apr. 1—HIGH POINT — The investigation into the shooting death of a High Point teenager who was attending a gang member's funeral now rests in the hands of Guilford County District Attorney Avery Crump.

The State Bureau of Investigation, which had been investigating the Nov. 8 killing of 18-year-old Frederick Cox Jr., submitted its completed case file to the DA's office last week, according to Angie Grube, the SBI's public information director.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Stephen Cole confirmed Wednesday that Crump had received it.

"She'll have an opportunity to review the findings in consultation with her senior prosecutors and the lead investigative agent, and will arrive at a decision from there," Cole said.

That decision likely will be made within the next week or two, Cole added.

Cox was shot to death by an undercover Davidson County Sheriff's Office deputy after a memorial service at Living Water Baptist Church on Brentwood Street. According to witnesses, after gunfire from two passing vehicles had rained down in the vicinity of mourners leaving the church, Cox was helping a youth and his mother get into the church safely when the deputy shot him.

The deputy, who has not been publicly identified and has not been charged, reportedly told investigators Cox had a gun, but the youth and his mother dispute that assertion. An autopsy report states Cox had no firearm residue on his hands, indicating he did not fire a gun during the incident.

The Cox family, their legal team and supporters — including lead attorney Ben Crump, a nationally renowned civil rights attorney — have held a protest march and several news conferences in High Point calling attention to the case. One of their chief complaints has been how long it has taken the SBI to complete its investigation.

Grube defended the agency's investigation.

"There are so many factors that can vary from one investigation to the next," she said. "I think it's safe to say that in this case, we were awaiting the autopsy report."

The autopsy report was formally completed on March 9, and the SBI submitted its case file to the district attorney's office on March 24.

According to the autopsy, which the Cox family's attorneys made public at a March 15 news conference, Cox was shot four times, with at least two of those shots being fired from behind. That information, coupled with the lack of firearm residue on Cox's hands, prove the teenager was gunned down without cause, they say.

Now, with the SBI report in the hands of the district attorney, the Cox family and their supporters want the deputy to be charged, and they want him charged now.

"It shouldn't take almost five months for this man to be charged — it's really ridiculous," Cox's mother, Tenicka Shannon, said Wednesday, after learning the SBI file is now at the DA's office. "It's cut and dry. My son was shot in the back — he was shot while running and saving two people's lives."

Shannon said Avery Crump had promised to contact her when the SBI file reached her office, but Crump never called.

"I've learned I can't trust anybody," Shannon said. "(The SBI) never spoke to one of the key witnesses (Vivian Wright, the mother assisted by Cox at the funeral) until weeks after the murder, and now Avery has dropped the ball with the promise she made. I just feel like they're wanting me to let it blow over and forget about it, and that's not going to happen."

jtomlin@hpenews.com — 336-888-3579

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