ROCKINGHAM — A man with charges still pending from several years ago and released from prison earlier this year for a shooting in another state is now accused of running from deputy and drug possession.
Tajuwon Deondre Short, of Rockingham, was arrested Dec. 9 after allegedly driving 112 mph in a 35 mph zone while “attempting to elude arrest and apprehension by Deputy R. Spivey,” according to a warrant.
Short was also allegedly caught with an unspecified quantity of cocaine.
He is charged with felony possession of cocaine and fleeing to elude arrest with a motor vehicle and is being held in the Richmond County Jail on a $25,000 secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on those charges Dec. 21.
Under his jail listing are multiple other charges.
Online court records show a single charge each of assault on a female and communicating threats are pending from 2019 and Short’s next court date is Dec. 18.
Short is being held without bond on multiple charges stemming from 2018, according to jail and court records: robbery with a dangerous weapon; conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon; attempted first-degree murder; assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury; assault by pointing a gun; possession of stolen goods; two counts of possession of a handgun by a minor; and three counts of injury to personal property.
His next court appearance on those charges is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2024.
(Note: The 2018 charges do not appear in online court records, but were available at the clerk of court’s office.)
Short had been charged in 2019 with murder in connection to a fatal nightclub shooting near the state line in Marlboro County, South Carolina.
Click here to read that story.
Online records for South Carolina show Short pleaded guilty on Oct. 19, 2021 to a reduced charge of manslaughter, as well as unlawful carrying of a pistol. He was sentenced to five years in prison on the manslaughter charge and one year for the weapon charge.
Another charge of possession of a weapon during a violent crime — which could have resulted in life in prison or the death penalty — was dropped by prosecutors.
South Carolina prison records show Short was released May 20, 2023.
Short has no prior convictions as an adult in North Carolina.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
