39-year-old Richard Tabb Jr. was charged with possession of heroin with intent, convicted felon in possession of a handgun, and tampering with evidence after his son was involved in a shooting incident that lead to him disposing of the gun involved and then getting caught with heroin on a search warrant.
On March 12th, detectives executed a search warrant at a home on Kippley Street for an aggravated assault that occurred at 7156 Charlton Way on March 8th. Landon Waley, who is 17 years old, was accidentally shot by 17-year-old Richard Tabb, who is Richard Tabb Jr.’s son, while they were recording a video to be posted on social media. The gun went off and a single round hit Waley in the arm and then entered his chest cavity. He was taken to Methodist North Hospital by the younger Tabb and later airlifted to Regional One Health.
Detectives stated they located a single discharged .22 caliber casing in the bedroom where the incident occurred, but no firearm was found. The younger Tabb and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Nasstassja Smith, were both Mirandized and questioned about the incident. According to the affidavit, Smith and the younger Tabb gave conflicting statements about the location of the firearm. However, Smith later admitted that she went to the Charlton Way address and took the gun from the residence.
Smith then stated she met with the younger Tabb’s father, 39-year-old Richard Tabb Jr., at the Marathon at the intersection of Highway 14 and Coleman Road and gave the gun to him. Detectives stated they were able to obtain security footage from Marathon that corroborated Smith’s admission. The video showed Smith driving a black Audi and Tabb Jr. driving an older GMC pickup exchanging a few bags and then leaving.
Officers went to the Kippley Street address and placed Richard Tabb Jr. into custody on an active search warrant. He was transported to 201 Poplar where he was Mirandized and interrogated. Officers noted that Tabb Jr. is a convicted felon. According to the affidavit, he admitted to meeting with Smith at Marathon and taking several firearms from her. Tabb Jr. then admitted to immediately taking the weapons to an undisclosed location in the Raleigh area for a few people to pick through. He finished by stating that he did not recall there being a .22 caliber pistol in the bag given to him.
According to the affidavit, Smith and the younger Tabb were both charged with tampering with evidence. Tabb was also charged with reckless aggravated assault. Both were transported to Juvenile Court on March 8th. Detectives then searched Tabb Jr.’s home on Kippley Street, where they found individually wrapped baggies in white paper that contained a brown powdery substance that tested positive for heroin weighing 0.3 grams.
Richard Tabb was arrested and charged with possession of heroin with intent, convicted felon in possession of a handgun, and tampering with evidence. His bond was set at $75,000.
