MIDLAND, Texas — Police have arrested three people and are searching for a fourth in their investigation of the shooting death of a Sul Ross State running back at a nightclub early Sunday.
Jermaine Swearington, 23, died at Midland Memorial Hospital after he was shot multiple times in the body and the legs just before 4 a.m. at the Pleasures Club, said Sgt. Lupe Bretado of the Midland Police Department.
James Braziel, 21, Jessie Johnson Jr., 18, and Melvin Lenard, 18, each were charged with one count of murder and were being held in the Midland County Jail on Monday night on $250,000 bond, said Cassandra Flores, a clerk at the jail. Braziel also has four counts of violating probation and faces an additional $2,000 in bonds on two of them, while bond for the other two had not been set. Lenard also faces additional unrelated charges, Flores said.
“After the incident occurred, some of the detectives interviewed some witnesses,” Bretado said. “Those are some of the names the witnesses gave detectives. The detectives interviewed them and warrants were obtained.”
Bretado said authorities also were searching for a fourth suspect.
A call by The Associated Press to an attorney for Lenard was not immediately returned Monday night. Flores did not know whether the others had attorneys.
Swearington was a star running back at Permian High School before going to Sul Ross, the Odessa American reported Monday in its online edition.
He rushed for 909 yards on 152 carries and scored 10 touchdowns in his first season with the Lobos, making the American Southwest All-Conference team.
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