Report Details Shooting Death of NC Student Leader

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Eve Carson was shot four other times, according to the report from the Office of the State Medical Examiner that simply lists her cause of death as “multiple gunshot wounds.” The 22-year-old from Athens, Ga., was found March 5 lying on a street not far from the university’s campus.

Prosecutors have charged two Durham men—Laurence Lovette, 17, and Demario Atwater, 22—with first-degree murder in her death. Lovette and another man are also charged with the January murder of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato.

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The report [on Carson’s death] said Carson was shot five times, including once in the right cheek by a “full metal jacketed bullet” and in the right shoulder by a similar bullet that penetrated her right lung and traveled into her small intestine. She was also shot in the right upper arm and in the right buttock.

But the most vicious wound came from a shotgun blast that struck her right hand before impacting her head and brain, where the medical examiner recovered a “numerous birdshot pellets and a plastic shot cup.”

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The autopsy report said Carson was wearing a light gray T-shirt, dark blue sweat pants and light blue, gray and white athletic shoes at the time of her death. She was also wearing a yellow metal necklace with a small locket and a white paper wristband on her left wrist that said “Be true” and “Nike.”

In court documents released last week, authorities said a confidential informant told police that Atwater said he and Lovette entered Carson’s home through an open door, took her and her vehicle to an ATM, and ended up withdrawing about $1,400 over two days. Investigators confirmed the dollar figure by reviewing Carson’s bank records, according to the records.

The informant also said Carson was shot by both suspects. An affidavit signed by an investigator said the informant’s statements were corroborated because two separate weapons were used in the shooting.

Lovette and Stephen Oates, 19, of Durham, are charged in Mahato’s death. His autopsy showed the 29-year-old had been shot once at point-blank range in the forehead.

[Editor’s Note: Earlier stories on the murder of Eve Carson can be read starting here.]