The Commercial Appeal

Man fatally shot after friend goes missing

‘Mac Pooh’ charged with 1st-degree murder

- By Stephanie Norton norton@commercial­appeal.com 901-529-2520

A man with outstandin­g warrants from Alaska is due in court Monday on a first-degree murder charge stemming from a shooting death last week.

Police Saturday arrested Cedricus Carter, 31, in connection with the July 14 shooting death of Andre Williams, who was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds after Shelby County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 5100 block of Blacksmith Drive.

During an investigat­ion, deputies discovered Williams’ close friend, Charles Birt, had been reported missing the day before by his fiancee, Chaya Woods.

Woods told deputies that a man by the name of “Mac Pooh” was at her home trying to help her find Birt, according to an affidavit. He told her to call Williams and then confronted him about Birt, the affidavit said. Woods told deputies Williams said he had not seen Birt and had also been trying to locate him. “Mac Pooh” then asked Williams where he was and said he was on his way to see him, the affidavit said.

Once off the phone, “Mac Pooh” asked Woods for a photo of Williams and she pulled up his Facebook page, according to the affidavit. “Mac Pooh” then retrieved Woods’ handgun from a friend’s car and left in a white, extended cab pickup.

Further investigat­ion revealed “Mac Pooh” to be Carter. Detectives in Alaska provided deputies with a phone number for Carter.

Phone records showed Carter had communicat­ed with Woods and Birt and put Carter in the area of Williams’ death at the time the homicide occurred. Witnesses also reported seeing a white pickup leave the scene after the shooting.

In addition to Carter’s Saturday arrest, for which no bond was set, Woods was arrested Thursday. She is charged with filing a false offense report after initially telling officers she threw her gun in a trash bin outside of a Walmart on Austin Peay. Her bond is set at $5,000. She is due in court Friday.

Birt was found by family and friends “on drugs in a motel room” the day after the homicide, according to an affidavit.

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