Third man arrested in drug deal that led to shooting in North Charleston

A North Charleston man who was wounded Saturday during a drug deal that turned deadly was arrested today.

Brian Vincent Johnson, 31, of North Kenwood Street faces a charge of conspiracy to violate state narcotics laws in the incident early Saturday morning in which 23-year-old Andre Manigault was fatally shot. Johnson suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was treated at Medical University Hospital.

Johnson, who was found after fleeing the shooting scene, was the third man arrested in the case.

The melee started just after midnight when Manigault and Devon Wilson, 19, of Bailey Drive showed up at 4640 Purcell Drive “to conduct a drug transaction” with Johnson and 33-year-old John Albert Bradley of Eberly Avenue, the police reported.

“The deal went bad, and shots were fired,” said Spencer Pryor, spokesman for the North Charleston Police Department.

Responding patrol officers soon stopped a silver Ford Crown Victoria that was traveling east on Ashley Phosphate Road without its headlights on. The car matched the description of one leaving Purcell Drive, where Manigault’s body was found in the street.

Officers found “fresh blood smears on both the driver’s seat and the front passenger’s seat of the vehicle,” an incident report says.

Bradley was arrested on a charge of driving on a suspended license, driving without headlights and conspiracy to violate state narcotics laws.

Wilson also faces a charge of conspiracy to violate state narcotics laws.

No drugs were found, Pryor said.

Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede.