A fight in the parking lot of a Burlington bar early on Sept. 27 escalated into gunfire that tore through three separate vehicles, leaving one woman injured and three women facing charges. Jakeyah Dixon faces attempted-murder charges. The owner of the bar where it all started has also been arrested, accused of obstructing the investigation into what happened outside his business.
According to myfox8.com, Burlington police officers responded around 2:11 a.m. to the 900 block of Kirkpatrick Road, where they found an adult who had been shot. A separate report from wxii12.com placed the response time closer to 2:10 a.m., near Kirkpatrick Road and Huffman Mill Road. The victim was taken to a hospital and was reported to be in stable condition, per abc45.com.
The shooting was tied to Moonshinerz 2.0, a bar on Kirkpatrick Road, the same station reported. Per the Burlington Times-News, arrest warrants indicate the gunfire followed a physical altercation in the bar's parking lot involving all three women later charged in the case.
Charges Pile Up Against Three Women
Investigators located, arrested and charged three people on Oct. 9 in connection with the shooting, abc45.com reported. The Times-News, citing arrest warrants, states that Jakeyah Lavon Dixon, 29, of West Whitsett Street in Graham, and Heather Alece Currie, 30, of South Mebane Street in Burlington, are accused of firing shots into a Hyundai Sonata occupied by three women, including the one who was injured.
The same warrants allege Dixon and Currie also fired into a Dodge Durango occupied by a man involved in the fight and a woman, as well as into a Kia Sorento occupied by another woman. Dixon was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, felony inciting a riot, going armed to the terror of the public, and three counts of discharging a firearm within city limits, according to abc45.com.
Currie was charged with three counts of discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle, felony inciting a riot and going armed to the terror of the public, the station's report states. A third woman, Ashley Yolanda Brandon-Smith, 41, of East Harden Street in Graham, was charged with felony inciting a riot, going armed to the terror of the public and misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon, per the same account.
Bar Owner Arrested on Obstruction Charge
Days before the women were charged, Roger Helterbran Jr., the 55-year-old owner of Moonshinerz 2.0, was arrested on Oct. 2 on a felony obstruction charge tied to the shooting investigation, according to the Burlington Police Department as reported by myfox8.com. He was given a $20,000 secured bond, and as a condition of his release, he is barred from being on the premises of Moonshinerz 2.0 on Kirkpatrick Road.
The North Carolina State Alcohol Law Enforcement agency also filed three ABC charges against Helterbran, the outlet reported.
The investigation remains ongoing, and the Burlington Police Department has asked anyone with information to contact it at (336) 229-3500.
