Durham police said Friday that U.S. Marshals arrested a guy Thursday in connection with a fatal drive-by shooting in May.
The 21-year-old Michael Elijah McCray from Scotland County is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ricky Orlando Nichols Jr., 20, from Durham on May 25.
Around 5 p.m., Nichols was riding in a sedan near the corner of Dearborn Drive and Old Oxford Road. There was another car pulling up behind them, and someone fired several shots into Nichols’ side of the car.
The car that Nichols was driving kept going, and the man who was driving it left his car near an apartment complex and ran away on foot.
Nichols was still in the car when police arrived, hurt. He passed away in a hospital.
McCray was first charged with felony conspiracy in the death of Nichols. The 21-year-old was said to have worked “with unknown males” to kill Nichols. The arrest warrant was granted on September 5, but the first-degree murder charge wasn’t brought up by a grand jury until September 16.
Nichols was caught in Richmond County and taken to the Durham County jail, where police say he is being held without bond. He was also given a warrant from the Cary Police Department for breaking and entering a motor vehicle with theft and three other counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle when he was arrested.
Police records show that as of September 14, there had been 27 murders in Durham this year. That’s less than the 32 and 31 murders that were reported by the same date in 2023 and 2022.
For anyone with information about Nichols’ death, please call Investigator A. Bongarten at 919-560-4440 ext. 29529 or visit www.durhamcrimestoppers.org or call 919-683-1200 to leave a tip.