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Threatening tweet sent to murder victim days before his death

Posted at 5:54 PM, Mar 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-22 18:48:17-04

A man wanted for a Portsmouth murder and later captured by United States Marshals spoke to NewsChannel 3 from jail Tuesday.

21 year-old Roderick Britt is accused of being part of a shooting that killed 17 year-old Jayzavia Hill, also known as JayZ.

Police arrived on scene and found Hill suffering from injuries to the upper part of his body; he was unresponsive. Medics attempted to save his life, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 19-year-old victim also had injuries to his lower extremities and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, police say. His injuries appeared to be non-life threatening.

As officers were responding to Deep Creek Boulevard, another 911 call was received by police communications, notifying them of a third male who was suffering from an injury in the 280 block of Dale Drive.

When officers arrived, they found an 18-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the upper part of his body. He was transported by medics to a local hospital for treatment of what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries, according to police.

Britt is one of five suspects facing murder charges.

We reached out to each of the suspects to give them the opportunity for an interview. Britt was the only one interested.

Britt claims he is innocent and said, “The five of us, all five of us are not who these people label us.”

After an intense manhunt, U.S. Marshals found him and two other suspects, Jalon Trotter and Andre Keel, in early March in Atlanta.

They were brought back to Portsmouth on March 17th.

“We left to go to Atlanta to better ourselves as a whole. We're trying to put this behind us. We thought this was going to be put behind us,” said Britt.

According to records, one of the suspects, Raykwun Short, tweeted, “I’m killing n***** if I gotta take it there tbh”

Records show Hill responded “Yu dnt wana take it dea”

Then it states Short sent a picture of a bulls eye.

Short turned himself in to police months ago.

Samking N. Beale turned himself in to police last week and is now in custody. He is facing five charges including first-degree murder, felony murder and malicious wounding.

We asked Britt about the night of the shooting and problems between the men involved.

Britt said he is innocent and didn’t want to answer questions, but said he was home the night of the shooting.

All five suspects are scheduled to be in court April 7th.

Members of The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, along with detectives from the Portsmouth Police Department Major Crimes Unit, and officers with the Uniform Patrol Division located and apprehended the suspects in Atlanta.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP. Callers are never asked to give their name or required to testify in court.

If a caller’s tip leads to an arrest, the recovery of drugs, or stolen property, they could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.