Durham Man Faces Murder, Federal Charges After Raleigh Police Shootout

Solomon Thomas Owens, 26, of Durham, now faces a stack of state and federal charges after a shootout erupted when Raleigh SWAT officers moved to arrest him in connection with the February 9 killing of Joseph "Joey" Adams, a Garner father of five found shot in his car on Timber Drive.

A Wake County grand jury handed up the indictment related to Owens's shootout with the Raleigh SWAT team during that arrest attempt. For the Raleigh incident, he is charged with attempted first-degree murder and assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm. He also faces murder charges in the death of Adams, whose killing investigators described as a suspected road rage shooting.

Federal prosecutors compounded the legal exposure further, charging Owens with possession of a firearm by a felon. The weapon at the center of that charge is a Radical Firearms model 300BLK rifle. Lee Turner, an attorney and former Raleigh police officer, said the federal involvement dramatically raises the stakes. "It's a serious charge in state court, but the times that he can be incarcerated ramp up greatly when the Feds pick this charge up," Turner said. Owens could face life in prison if convicted.

Garner investigators had worked around the clock following Adams's death, analyzing evidence and tracking leads until they identified Owens as the suspect responsible for the murder. Working alongside the Raleigh Police Department, Wake County Sheriff's Office, Durham County Sheriff's Office, and Durham Police Department, investigators located Owens and moved to take him into custody. The confrontation that followed injured two officers, according to a report Raleigh police released on a Thursday detailing the incident. In late February, the department also published a five-day report with additional details of the exchange of fire at an apartment complex in north Raleigh.

Police used a non-lethal sponge round during the arrest attempt, striking Owens in the leg before taking him into custody. Turner noted the tactical complexity of the situation: "It makes it much more difficult to the officers, because they have to now consider they have an innocent subject, you know, in the line of fire."

Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce confirmed that at least one SWAT officer was injured during the shooting. Owens is currently held at the Wake County Detention Center without bond.