Suspect in fatal 2022 shooting of teenager pleads guilty to second-degree murder

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A man accused of a fatal shooting in Wilmington pled guilty to second-degree murder on Monday, May 15.

“Daquan Curtis Long, age 18, will serve between 20 and 25 years for shooting 17- year-old Ziyon Cuttino outside of a home on Anderson Street,” the District Attorney’s Office states in a release.

The Wilmington Police Department says Daquan Long was 17 years old when he allegedly fatally shot another 17-year-old, Ziyon Cuttino, in 2022. He had his case transferred from Juvenile Court to Superior Court shortly after he was charged.

WPD officers responded to a shots fired call in the 500 block of Anderson Street around 6 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2022.

Officers located Cuttino, who suffered from a gunshot wound, and began life-saving measures until EMS arrived. The 17-year-old victim died after being taken to Novant Health NHRMC with life-threatening injuries.

According to a press release by the District Attorney’s Office, witnesses reported tensions between Long’s family and Cuttino’s family and that Long and one of his friends got into a verbal altercation.

“Cuttino, who did not reside on Anderson Street, was walking by Long’s residence with a group of young people, including a person with whom Long had been feuding, on the evening of September 24th. Long and one of his friends engaged in a verbal altercation with the group before Cuttino walked up to the house and sat on the porch beside the two. Cuttino and Long’s friend exchanged words before engaging in a fistfight,” the District Attorney’s Office wrote.

Detectives were able to retrieve surveillance videos and a clip from a cellphone video, which showed that Long grabbed a shotgun from his home and chased members of Cuttino’s group before returning to where Cuttino and the other man were fighting. Long then shot and hit Cuttino in the abdomen.

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