Demaurea Grant’s history of violence and mayhem hit a deadly crescendo this weekend.
The 29-year-old North Carolina man charged with fatally shooting beloved Atlantic Beach corrections officer Brad McNew at a gas station early Saturday morning was the prime suspect in a 2016 killing — and once tried to stab a corrections officer with a homemade shank in 2021, according to reports.
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Sunday that McNew — a dedicated father and involved member of his community — witnessed Grant brutalizing a woman at the Duval Road gas station and attempted to stop the assault.
Grant allegedly fired a fatal shot at the 24-year veteran of the Jacksonville Corrections Office as he pulled out of the parking lot and sped off.
He was arrested without incident at a residence in Gastonia, North Carolina on Sunday and will be transported back to Jacksonville, Waters said.
Media reports from 2018 name Grant as the prime suspect in the shooting death of Jarellia Montgomery, 38, after a misunderstanding over a bandana.
Grant and several others accused Montgomery of representing a rival gang, an accusation he denied at the time. The victim fled the argument on his motorcycle, but was chased down in a car and shot dead.
Local law enforcement officials said Grant and three alleged accomplices were considered armed and dangerous at the time.
Grant was ultimately investigated, but prosecutors concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue a murder charge, a relative of the victim wrote in a Facebook post at the time.
In 2021, a jury found Grant guilty of attempting to stab a Rowan County, Mass. corrections officer with a homemade shank while in custody three years prior, according to a report.
Grant apparently vanished after the proceeding started, and the story states that local officials planned to sentence him once he was located. It’s unclear when and if he was tracked down in relation to that case.
Grant was also arrested in 2020 for punching two Rowan County corrections officers in the face while under arrest for an unspecified crime.
Local reports note that he also had prior convictions for felony kidnapping and assault by strangulation.
Grant was also arrested on gun and drug charges by the Monroe County Sheriffs Office in 2019 along with two others. In addition to an illegal firearm, deputies recovered an ounce of methamphetamine in the sting operation.
Court records show that Grant was party to a 2018 civil lawsuit filed against the North Carolina Department of Corrections over prison conditions. The case was dismissed with prejudice.
