Police identify victim in deadly shooting, say suspect and victim knew each other

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Asheville police have officially released the identity of a man who was killed in broad daylight Thursday afternoon.

Authorities say 33-year-old Oji Trevon Mitchell, of Columbia, South Carolina, was shot and killed on April 18 on Tunnel Road.

Arrest warrants say the South Carolina man accused of shooting and killing Mitchell also stole a multi-colored Gucci bag containing $3,751 in cash.

Asheville police say 24-year-old Kenneth Maurice West Jr of Rock Hill, South Carolina, has been charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery in the case.

The shooting happened around 3:13 p.m. at the 160 block of Tunnel Road, across from the Shell gas station.

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Witnesses told News 13 on Thursday that they heard multiple pops that sounded like gunfire and saw the victim lying in the parking lot of a commercial strip mall.

Aside from a Gucci bag and cash, warrants said "miscellaneous identity documents" valued at $3,900 were also stolen from the victim. Arrest documents also said West had a Glock 27, .40-caliber handgun.

Captain Joe Silberman, who heads up APD's major case unit, confirmed that the victim and suspect are both from South Carolina, knew each other, and were both known to South Carolina law enforcement in different ways.

"It would certainly seem to appear that the victim and the suspect had some knowledge of each other," Silberman said. "We believe the suspect came there to encounter the victim. Whether it was just an armed robbery, whether there was something more nefarious at play, our investigators are still looking into it."

Police confirm they recovered several bullet casings from the crime scene in and around the parking lot of a commercial strip mall along Tunnel Road. Investigators also confirmed they have surveillance footage but would not disclose what could be seen.

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"On Tunnel Road, there are a lot of businesses and most of those businesses have cameras," Silberman said.

Because the shooting happened during the day along a busy road, Silberman said investigators also have many witnesses willing to cooperate and share information about what they saw.

"There were two things that worked in our favor," said Silberman. "On a Thursday at three in the afternoon, all detectives are somewhat available, winding down investigations for the day. We were able to respond with all personnel. Our street crime unit also happened to be working in the area, and on top of that, patrol units were also in the area."

Asheville investigators are working with detectives across state lines in South Carolina.