Murder suspect surrenders to SPD

Published 8:34 pm Wednesday, June 21, 2017

A Selma man wanted for allegedly shooting and killing a 23-year-old in January turned himself in to police Wednesday.

Demarcus Dillard

Demarcus Dillard, who investigators identified as a suspect in the murder of Nick Bell, turned himself in on a capital murder charge. According to Lt. Tory Neely with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Selma Police Department, Dillard is being held at the Dallas County Jail without bond.

Christopher Boswell, 18, was arrested and charged with capital murder Tuesday for his alleged involvement in Bell’s death. He is also being held at the Dallas County Jail without bond.

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According to Neely, Boswell was identified as a suspect in the case by someone claiming to be there when Bell was shot to death.

“We’re anticipating more arrests in this case, but we’ve got the main two sources that we were looking for,” Neely said. “We’re still investigating it.”

Bell was found shot to death in the driver’s seat of a Grand Marquis at the back of a residence on the 100 block of Lamar Avenue around noon on Jan. 14, 2017, after a call came in to the police department. Bell died from multiple gunshot wounds to the body.

This was the city’s first homicide of 2017.

Neely said Dillard and Boswell have a criminal history and were out on bond for shooting into an occupied building and first-degree assault.

Boswell was arrested in March for his alleged involvement in a high-speed chase that ended in a head-on collision on Broad Street. He was charged with two counts of first-degree assault and discharging a firearm into an occupied building.

Those charges stem from a March 5 incident, where Boswell allegedly got into an argument at Crown Chicken.

“Two groups of guys got into it. One of them accused another one of shooting their brother, Nicholas Bell, so they pulled guns on each other at Crown Chicken,” Neely said after Boswell’s March arrest.

Later on that night, an officer responded to a call at Selma Square Apartments on the 1200 block of Woodrow Avenue. While the officer was taking a report, he heard shots fired nearby.

The officer pursued the vehicle the shots were fired from, and the chase ended when the vehicle crashed head-on into a vehicle with two young women inside.

Neely said the department will continue to investigate Bell’s homicide. Anyone with information regarding Bell’s murder is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-866-442-7463, the SPD Criminal Investigation Division at (334) 874-2125 or the secret witness line at (334) 874-2190.