By LANCE MARTIN

rrspin.com

HALIFAX – Two more people, including one who was arrested in a Roanoke Rapids area murder this past weekend and one who took a plea in a 2014 shooting, have been charged in the August murders of four elderly people in the Glenview community of Halifax County.

Halifax County Sheriff Wes Tripp said Keyon Quarice West and James Edward Powell were both arrested Monday and charged with murder in the shooting deaths of James and Janice Harris and James and Peggy Whitley as they played cards at the Harris residence in August.

Tripp declined comment on whether West, 23, and Powell, 25, fired shots the evening the four friends were gathered to socialize and play cards.

He also declined to discuss the relationship between West and Powell and their relationship with Matthew Simms, the first person to be charged in the case. Tripp declined comment on whether Simms fired shots in the Glenview murders.

Powell was arrested Saturday in the shooting death of Travis Johnson in the Deer Run Drive area of Roanoke Rapids near the old airport as well as the shooting of an unnamed victim during the Johnson murder.

West took a plea arrangement in 2014 in a shooting in the area of the Interstate BP. He pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and received a 14- to 26-months sentence that was suspended for 24 months of probation.

Powell and West were jailed without opportunity for bond. Powell already received no bond in the Saturday murder and shooting. Their first court dates are pending.

Tripp said in a statement the Monday arrests were based on continuous investigation by deputies and agents from the State Bureau of Investigation.

In the statement Tripp said, “The investigation continues.”

He added, however, “Due to the integrity of this case and respect to the families, no further information will be released at this time.”

The only information to be divulged in the case is that items of value were missing from the Harris residence and the motive is robbery.

The four were shot through a glass door while they sat playing cards at the dining room table. All the victims died at the table after they were shot multiple times.

 (Lance Martin is the Editor and Publisher of www.rrspin.com. Permission was received to publish this story.)