Background: Brayden Carter being arrested (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department). Inset top: Damarion Coleman (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department). Inset bottom: Andre Justus Bell (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department).
Two men are behind bars in Tennessee after police say a college student traveling back from a gymnastics event was shot and killed because of jealousy over a woman.
Brayden Carter, 19, and Damarion Coleman, 18, have both been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Andre Justus Bell, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department announced. Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Carter also faces gun charges.
On the night of Jan. 11, Bell, a student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, "was headed back to campus" from the Nashville Fairgrounds "after volunteering to help with our Fisk University gymnastics meet," according to police and the university's athletics director. He was driving his white Nissan Sentra on I-65 north at the I-40 East junction with two other students.
A dark-colored sedan pulled alongside the Sentra and "[s]omeone in that dark car started shooting," according to police. Bell was struck in the head, and he died.
For months, investigators searched for the person or persons responsible. In March, the police department announced that Bell's family posted a $25,000 reward, in addition to a $5,000 reward offered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and a reward of up to $5,000 offered by Nashville Crime Stoppers.
On Tuesday, officers announced their arrests of Carter and Coleman. They have also shared their suspected motive for the shooting.
Carter was jealous and possessive over his girlfriend, a member of the university's gymnastics team, police said, citing cellphone data, per local NBC affiliate WSMV.
"It has been reported that he did not like other young men talking to her," police added in a press release. "Carter and Coleman are alleged to have been at the fairgrounds that January night and followed Bell and his two teammates with the intent of scaring the basketball team to stay away from the girlfriend."
Bell was a basketball player at Fisk University and was "a scholar and beloved, integral part" of the team, the athletics director said.
"[W]e lost a leader on and off the basketball court," the team's coach added in January. "He was a dominant force on the Fisk University Men's Basketball team, but he was most remembered for his infectious smile, loving personality, and unique ability to always bring warmth to a room."
Carter and Coleman also face attempted murder charges, but Coleman's case is currently in juvenile court, as he was 17 at the time of the shooting. In their request for information about the incident in March, police did not mention anyone else in the car with Bell being injured.