By Ryan Seals
The News & Record
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Two career criminals with records dating back to age 12 have been arrested and charged with the robbery and slaying of a 7-year-old boy and his father last weekend.
The crime netted $150 in cash and $150 worth of marijuana, police said.
Lenox Nathaniel Grant, 32, also known as Arshaq Allah, and Cedrick Brian Cunningham, 33, were arrested late Tuesday and early Wednesday by Greensboro police and charged with the shootings of 31-year-old Marquise Steens and his son, 7-year-old Malique Steens .
Police said they believe Grant shot the father and son.
The suspects were both charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The killings happened inside a house at 205 Guerrant St. between 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
“I don’t know what brings a person to (kill a child),” police Chief Ken Miller said. “It’s unconscionable - a 7-year-old who hasn’t formed his own character.
They haven’t made decisions on their own yet. It’s absolutely unconscionable."Miller said investigators got a break just after midnight Tuesday when they responded to a disturbance at 1200 Orchard St.
They found a woman who said she had been raped.
The victim, according to police and court records, jumped from a second-story window to escape.
She ran to a neighbor’s home and called police.
“In that investigation, police began and located physical evidence to charge (Grant with rape),” Miller said.
Investigators then received more information that implicated Grant in Saturday’s double homicide.
He was tracked to a house at 805 Douglas St. He was hiding in a closet when police arrested him.
A handgun was recovered and is undergoing testing.
Grant was interviewed overnight Tuesday, and police said he has cooperated.Miller said detectives developed a second suspect in the case - Cunningham - who turned himself in Wednesday morning.
Besides the murder charge, Grant faces robbery with a dangerous weapon, first-degree rape, kidnapping, assault inflicting serious injury and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Cunningham faces a charge of robbery with a dangerous weapon in addition to the two murder charges.
Police expect more charges and potentially more arrests.
Miller said detectives believe Marquise Steens knew both Grant and Cunningham but wouldn’t elaborate at a Wednesday news conference.
He said Grant and Cunningham have known each other for some time.
Miller said that information from the rape case, Crime Stoppers’ tips and the work of officers on the case led to the arrests.
“These folks right here are only a small number of the many folks who spent their weekend and the last several days around the clock ... to bring closure to this very violent crime,” Miller said of more than a dozen officers who stood behind him at the news conference.
Later Wednesday evening, more than 300 family members, friends and strangers who were touched by the tragedy filled the Windsor Recreation Center gym to support the family.
With lighted candles, speakers prayed that the family is comforted and justice served. Stacey Nickerson , Marquise’s girlfriend and Malique’s mother, said she attended the event to reciprocate the kindness people have shown to her family.
After the vigil, people lined up to hug Nickerson and express condolences with cards and balloons with “RIP Malique” and “RIP Marquise.”
Nickerson said she’s received numerous monetary donations and even an offer to pay for the funeral.
“The love and support today makes me feel at peace,” she said.
Carol McNeill, Malique Steens’ grandmother, said the family was informed of the first arrest late Tuesday night.
“All I could do was shout because I was so happy,” McNeill said.
“All I can remember thinking is that our police department is better than ’48 Hours’ because they were on point (with their investigation) and I really appreciate that.
“We all just exhaled; it was a lot of weight being released because there are times when these things never get solved.”
Both Grant and Cunningham have lengthy criminal histories dating back to childhood, according to police and court and prison records.
Cunningham served three separate prison terms on charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, common law robbery, drug possession, trespassing and resisting an officer.
Court records show he still faces a charge of assault on a female from 2009. He was previously charged with murder in 1999, but the charge was reduced to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
Prison records show he served 16 months in prison and nine months of probation for that crime.
Grant also spent three separate terms in prison on charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, parole violation, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, common law robbery, breaking and entering, drug possession with intent to sell, and possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
Grant also faces a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge from last month, court records show.
Nickerson said the arrests bring her peace. She is grateful for the officers’ efforts.
“It did bring some kind of closure. I haven’t been sleeping lately, knowing that these people that did this to a 7-year-old, innocent, little child and are still walking on the streets and could possibly do it to someone else.
“It takes just a heartless, cruel person to look a child in the eye and take their life. So, I just don’t understand that.”
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