CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mayor Danny Jones predicted an accused murderer’s scheme to have a top Charleston police detective killed will only strengthen the resolve of the police department and community.
“There’s nothing that will unite law enforcement more than for one of their own to be targeted,” Jones told WSAZ-TV Monday night.
Hours earlier, police charged 18-year-old D.J. Carter, of Charleston with soliciting the death of Chief of Detectives Lt. Steve Cooper. Carter allegedly tried to hire two men to kill Cooper for $15.000. Carter is allegedly upset with the way Cooper handled a malicious charge against him.
Police Chief Brent Webster said Cooper is receiving extra police protection, and Jones said other agencies are now looking into the case.
“You’ve got the federal government now involved and the state and I’m sure the county and all of us and this will unify us,” the mayor said.
Carter was also charged over the weekend in last week’s gang-style shooting death of Charleston teenager Tymel McKinney. Jones urged local residents to cut ties with members of an alleged Detroit drug connection.
“It would be a bad thing for anybody to involve themselves in, as we will see,” he said.
With the recent rash of shootings fresh on the minds of city’s West Side residents, two community marches are scheduled in the coming days. The first is set for Wednesday from the West Side to the East End.