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Gas station murder suspect proclaims innocence: ‘I’m not a criminal’

Posted at 8:49 AM, Dec 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-27 08:50:06-05

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Murder suspect Marcellus Carter was arrested Tuesday night around 6 p.m. at the WaWa station near the Boulders complex on Midlothian Turnpike.

Customers were watching as Richmond and Henrico Police arrested the suspect, wanted for the murder of 23-year-old Jamar Bryant. According to the sheriff's office, Carter was wanted on a second-degree murder charge.

Bryant was shot around 11 p.m. on  Dec. 15, close to an Exxon gas station in the 2300 block of Mechanicsville Turnpike, near the Henrico County-Richmond City line.

Carter claimed he was innocent in an exclusive interview from within the Henrico Jail West.

He described himself as a family man who worked to support his three young children and stated he doesn't know the victim.

Marcellus Carter

Marcellus Carter

"I'm not a criminal like the people behind you," Carter said pointing to other inmates. "I'm not nothing like that."

The 25-year-old couldn't answer where he was during the night of the shooting.

Carter said he was a star football player at Highland Springs High School who moved on to play D-2 football at Bluefield College.

His football career ended when he was kicked out of school after police charged him with second degree robbery at 19-years-old.

"Someone stole my money, a lot of money, so I went and got it back," Carter said. "It was wrong to not go to the police to get my money back."

He stated that a judge found him not guilty, but was still kicked off the team.

"I could be on TV right now getting interviewed by y'all for something different. But now I'm being looked at as a criminal right now," Carter said.

Crime Insider sources credit good police work for nabbing Carter at the Chesterfield gas station, about 10 days after Bryant succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Carter will remain in jail on no bond until his attorney status hearing at Henrico General District Court scheduled for January 10.

Marcellus Carter's arrest

Marcellus Carter's arrest

Fatal shooting upsets residents

A longtime customer of the Exxon station was shocked to hear about the violence.

"It's a big concern for everybody who lives around here," Solmon Bradley previously said in a CBS 6 interview. "We're not going to stop shopping where we go and get gas, we are just going to support and pray for the best."

Wayne Moe, the owner of Stuart's Fresh Catch, which is across from the Exxon, said the violence needs to stop.

"It's sad, but unfortunately this happens everywhere," Moe said. "It happens all over town and all over the country really."

Investigators have not released any more information about the shooting.

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