Former North Carolina Governor and Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper has a crime problem. Back in January, Townhall reported that Cooper commuted the death sentences of 15 convicted killers with zero consideration for the victims' families. He also vetoed multiple bills that would have required local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
Cooper was also behind the mass release of some 3,500 incarcerated individuals as part of a COVID-era settlement with the NAACP. One of those offenders, Decarlos Brown, Jr., went on to murder 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte's light rail system last summer. Last week we learned that Cooper's policies also let an illegal alien child predator walk free. Cooper knows this issue won't play well with voters, as he repeatedly dodged tough questions about his record.
Now we've got the names of more of the criminals Cooper has released into the Charlotte community, with no regard for the safety or well-being of North Carolinians.
Tyrell Brace was behind bars for repeat felony breaking and entering, assault by strangulation, and assault inflicting serious injury. Despite that record, Cooper released Brace, who went on to be charged with murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and felon in possession of a firearm. He was arrested in connection with the shooting death of 23-year-old Elante' Thompson. Two others were shot and injured in that same incident.
Brandy Kachelle Wilson was serving a sentence for possession of a stolen vehicle, shoplifting, drug paraphernalia, and resisting an officer. Cooper released her, and Wilson was charged with murder (which was later reduced to manslaughter). Wilson stabbed 36-year-old Scott Stroup, a man with whom she'd had a prior relationship. They had children together, and those children were left without parents thanks to Roy Cooper's soft-on-crime policies.
In 2023, Quintin Shipp was charged with second-degree murder, armed robbery, and felon in possession of a firearm. Shipp was accused of fatally shooting 28-year-old Ali Rashid. He had been in prison for robbery, false imprisonment, and attempted firearm possession by a felon until Cooper cut him loose.
That same year, Jamal Dean shot and killed 31-year-old Britton Owens in North Charlotte. Dean was released from prison by Cooper, where he'd been serving time for drug trafficking schedule I narcotics (e.g. heroin, LSD, ecstasy). Prior to murdering Owens, Dean had also been arrested for felon in possession of a firearm and served time in prison again.
Richard Clifford Gaither, Jr. was serving a sentence for the murder of 19-year-old Steven Darnell Simpson, whom Gaither shot in the head before leading police on a chase. Gaither was released by Cooper, too, and ended up being charged with felon in possession of a firearm, felony possession of a schedule II-controlled substance, and resisting a public officer.
That's just five of the monsters Cooper released into Charlotte. But his record on crime is even worse than that. In addition to commuting the death sentences of 15 killers, Cooper also launched the 'Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice,' and looked to 'reimagine public safety.'
Cooper also appointed a judge, Durham District Court Judge Dorothy Hairston, who reduced the felony charges against Ryan Vincent Camacho, a career criminal with 20 prior arrests. Despite the seriousness of Camacho's crime, the judge reduced those felony charges to misdemeanors, and Camacho walked free. Camacho went on to murder Raleigh science teacher Zoe Welch on January 3 of this year.
Despite trying to paint himself as tough on crime, Roy Cooper is anything but. His record has let thousands of violent criminals free, only to have many of them continue to commit crimes — up to and including murder — in and around Charlotte.
“Roy Cooper’s soft-on-crime policies have had deadly consequences on North Carolina families, leaving open seats at the dinner table because he has put criminals ahead of public safety. These senseless murders were completely avoidable had Roy Cooper not allowed career criminals to walk the streets freely. Cooper has blood on his hands," said DJ Griffin, a Spokesman for Michael Whatley, the Republican Senate candidate.
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