Signs of Gunfight Found in House: Man Who Was Killed May Have Shot at Men

By Dan Galindo, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Nov. 11–A Winston-Salem man who was killed early Friday shot at the men who had broken into his duplex, possibly hitting one, a search warrant says.

Leon Denard Conrad, 29, was found dead inside his duplex on Myrtle Avenue, off Yadkinville Road, about 1:20 a.m. Police were called to his house on a reported drive-by shooting, but officers found signs of what appeared to have been a gunfight inside the house. They found spent and unspent rounds and a handgun inside, and it appeared that the door had been kicked in.

On Friday night, detectives arrested Daniel Marcus Cordray, 24, of 4338 Grove Ave., on a charge of first-degree murder.

In an account filed with a search warrant Friday night, police said it appeared that Conrad had fired back and may have hit one of his attackers.

A short time after police found Conrad, a security guard at the emergency room of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center noticed that a man had dropped off a passenger who had been shot.

The security guard took down the license-plate number of the car, and police broadcast the description over the radio system they share with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

A deputy noticed the car, a silver Chrysler Sebring, at Colony Apartments off Brownsboro Road. It appeared that it had blood on it, according to the affidavit in the search warrant.

The affidavit identifies the man who was shot as Terrell Cornelius, 24, of Winston-Salem. Police spoke with his mother, who said that he had dropped her off at work Thursday night and had possession of the car since then. A phone message left for her yesterday was not returned.

Police would not say yesterday if Cornelius was a suspect, why they believe that Conrad was killed or how many people they were looking for in connection with his death. “We’re nowhere near finished with our investigation,” Capt. David Clayton said. “I really can’t comment.”

A search of the Sebring led police to take swabs of DNA and blood, and to seize keys, jewelry, Cornelius’ wallet, a cell phone and a box with wigs in it.

— Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at [email protected].

—–

To see more of the Winston-Salem Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.journalnow.com/.

Copyright (c) 2007, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.