ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 6, 1997 TAG: 9701060084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER STAFF WRITER
Two teen-agers have been charged in connection with the Dec. 30 shooting death of 33-year-old Larry Edward Donahue.
Michael Shrawn Benton, 19, of the 400 block of 13th Street Southwest, was charged with murder and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.
A 17-year-old boy was charged as an accessory before the fact. Police will not release his name because of his age. His name will become public after he is arraigned today, according to a new state law.
The teens were arrested separately without incident Sunday afternoon.
Police said one of the teens apparently made a racial comment about Donahue before the shooting, but police would not say what was said. Both teens are black and Donahue was white.
There is no indication that Donahue provoked the attack, police said.
Donahue, 33, of the 1400 block of Patterson Avenue, died of a single gunshot wound to the head. His body was found on a sidewalk in front of a house in the 1300 block of Chapman Avenue shortly after neighbors called police about shots being fired. His death was the city's 13th homicide of 1996.
Benton is being held without bond at the Roanoke City Jail. The 17-year-old, who lives in the Chapman Avenue area, is being held at Coyner Springs Detention Home.
This is the second 17-year-old Roanoke boy to be charged with murder in the last month.
Stephone Jones was charged with capital murder in the Dec. 11 shooting death of 17-year-old Antwan Gray in what police say was an attempted robbery.
Gray, who was found lying in a street next to the Lansdowne Park public housing development, also died from a gunshot wound to the head. A capital murder preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 7.
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