By Steve Lyttle and David Perlmutt
slyttle@charlotteobserver.com; dperlmutt@charlotteobserver.com

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested three men this morning and charged them in the murder of a 17-year-old West Mecklenburg High School senior who was shot to death 24 hours earlier.

Police say they are looking for two more men in the killing of Deandre Demacus Kidd, who had been planning to attend the senior prom in two weeks and graduate next month.

He was shot to death inside a car about 4 a.m. Sunday, after he and three other people stopped at a west Charlotte fast-food restaurant for an early-morning snack.

Police have not said what might have led to the shooting, and whether the victim knew those who fired shots at the car he was in.

Police say the three men arrested Monday morning were:

Cameron Edward Butler, 20

Larry Jamar Gilchrist, 19

Craig Alan Leverette Jr., 18

According to police spokeswoman Officer Rosalyn Harrington, each man has been charged with one count of murder; three counts of attempted murder; and one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury.

Police say they are looking for two other men:

Billy Davel Williams, 18

Titus Isaiah Campbell, 19

Three other people -- two males and a female -- were in the car with the victim. Maurice Wilson, a cousin of Kidd, also was sitting in the back seat and was struck by gunfire. He was taken to Carolinas Medical Center and underwent surgery Sunday. Family members have told reporters the injuries are serious.

Another cousin, Rakeem McCullough, was driving. He and a passenger in the front seat, the female, managed to escaped being hit by the gunfire.

Police said the four were driving home in a car owned by Kidd's mother, DeAndrea McConneyhead, after stopping at the Cook Out restaurant on Freedom Drive. They were hit by gunfire after turning onto Camp Greene Street.

Kidd died in the car on Watson Drive, near the house of McConneyhead's sister. That's where Kidd and his two cousins had planned to sleep.

McConneyhead said she saw her son for the last time about 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

"Thank goodness I told him, 'I love you' " McConneyhead said Sunday. "He said, 'I love you, too, Mom.'

"At 2 a.m., I called him on his cousin's (McCullough's) cell phone. They said they were getting something to eat and they'd be right home.

"Next call I get, they tell me my baby's dead."

Police had been looking for a newer dark-colored Chevrolet Impala with tinted windows -- the vehicle they said had been occupied by the assailants. Police said the Homicide, Vice, Gang and Violent Crime task forces all were involved in the investigation.

McConneyhead said she took her son last week to be fitted for a tuxedo, to wear to the West Mecklenburg prom May 15. She said he look good in the tux.

"When I told him he looked good, he smiled," she said.

She said her son was on schedule to graduate and had been looking into enlisting in the military.

"He wanted to be away from this environment -- the things that youth go through now, the way the streets are now," his mother said. "He didn't want to be in trouble; he was trying to make something of his life."
 

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