Springfield man pleads not guilty in shooting death of 19-year-old

The Springfield man accused in a 2015 shooting death appeared in Clark County Municipal Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to a murder charge.

Derrick Clerk, 26, is charged in connection with the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Shaquan Newby in October 2015. A warrant for Clerk’s arrest was issued one day after Newby’s death, according to Clark County court records.

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Clerk allegedly was on the run and then arrested in Detroit in August by U.S. Marshals. But he wasn’t transported to Springfield until Monday, Springfield Police Sgt. Jeff Flores said, because he remained in jail in Detroit on other charges.

Newby was found dead on Oct. 22 in the front yard of a home on South Yellow Springs Street. He had been shot at least once, according to court records.

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Witnesses at the scene of the shooting told detectives that Clerk and Newby appeared to get into an argument before shots were fired, according to court records.

At the time of the shooting, Springfield Police Chief Stephen Moody told this news outlet that witness cooperation in the case helped lead detectives quickly to Clerk as their suspect.

Witnesses pointed him out in a photo lineup, according to court records.

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Police said Clerk fled the Springfield area after the shooting and he was considered armed and dangerous.

Clerk’s bond was set at $300,000 on Tuesday by a Clark County Municipal Court judge. He remained in the Clark County Jail on Tuesday evening.

Moody didn’t return calls for comment on Clerk’s return to Springfield.

Newby’s death was part of a string of fatal shootings in the fall of 2015. Candance Prunty, 26, was killed in her West Mulberry street home one day before Newby. That case remains unsolved.

Bryant Michael Lawson, 33, and Titus Lee Ford, 36, were killed less than a week later. They were found fatally shot in an SUV on Pumphouse Road. Troy Allen Holder pleaded guilty to those murders in August and was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole after 18 years.

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