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Fredericksburg Police Department's Detective Wayne Hunnicutt searches the grounds at Forest Village for evidence this morning following an early morning homicide. Fredericksburg Police report that Jamair Ellis of Unionville was shot at close range early today. / Robert A. Martin, The Free Lance-Star
The scene where an early Tuesday morning homicide occurred at Forest Village in Fredericksburg. Police on the scene said the shooting occurred in the area at the lower left of the image. / Robert A. Martin, The Free Lance-Star
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Two people have been arrested and charged in connection with Fredericksburg’s first homicide of the year.
Toronto Deshawn Eura, 26, is charged with first-degree murder, city police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said. Eura is accused of shooting 21-year-old Jamair Ellis to death in the parking lot at Forest Village apartments early this morning. Police arrested Eura at his home today.
Ebony Charde Boone of Fredericksburg, who will turn 22 Thursday, was arrested this morning and charged with being an accessory to murder. It was not immediately clear what alleged role Boone played in the slaying.
According to Bledsoe, police first learned of the shooting about 1:25 a.m. after receiving a call from Mary Washington Hospital. Ellis had been driven to the hospital by a friend who witnessed the shooting and was highly agitated, police said.
Ellis, who had been shot multiple times in the upper torso while sitting in the driver’s seat of his car, was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. His friend somehow managed to drive Ellis to the hospital with Ellis still in the driver’s seat, Bledsoe said.
The witness told police that he and Ellis were sitting in the car when a man approached and began firing shots into Ellis at close range. Bledsoe said police have a good idea of what led to the shooting, but would only describe it as a "personal dispute."
Bledsoe said police are still interviewing witnesses who either heard the shooting or saw the immediate aftermath. She said police received no calls from Forest Village about the incident.
A special person of interest who police would like to speak with is a large black man who was with Eura at the time, Bledsoe said. He is described as being 6 feet 5 inches tall and 300 pounds with a beard and shoulder-length dreadlocks.
Bledsoe said city police have requested help from the FBI in processing the vehicle Ellis was in for a forensic examination.
Eura is well known to city police and has numerous relatives and friends living in the Fredericksburg area, Bledsoe said.
He is scheduled to stand trial in Fredericksburg Circuit Court next week on a distributing marijuana charge, and he was already wanted in the city for failing to appear in court on some driving charges, court records show.
His local convictions including eluding police in both Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania and unlawful wounding in the city.
Keith Epps: 540/374-5404
kepps@freelancestar.com
