Ex-Blue Jays prospect charged with murder in North Carolina

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A former Toronto Blue Jays prospect has been charged with murder after a locksmith was shot to death at a home he owned in North Carolina.

Police said Brian Reed Grant, 40, was arrested Wednesday and charged with the second-degree murder of Randy Stewart, 61, of Southport, N.C., the owner of Stewart Enterprises Locksmith Service who was found dead after making a service call at a home in nearby Oak Island – between Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, N.C.

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Oak Island Police Department said they arrived at the property reportedly owned by Grant at 6:18 p.m. and found Stewart, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Police said the incident was isolated despite false reports of multiple gunshot victims on various social media outlets.

“This information was never published by the department,” police said in a statement.

Grant, who was selected by the Blue Jays in the seventh round of the 2002 MLB draft, was arrested shortly afterward, booked at Brunswick County Detention Center and denied bond until his next court appearance on Aug. 11, the Wilmington Star-News reported.

A district attorney’s office spokesperson told the Star-News that the property was Grant’s second residence and he allegedly had been staying there for a couple of days. Grant’s defence attorney disputed that account in a response to the outlet, saying he had just arrived at the property.

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Police said Stewart showed up at the residence in a work van with his wife and two dogs and had planned to go on a fishing trip after the job was done, the Star-News reported.

“Multiple” neighbours called 911 to report “two distinct rounds of gunshots,” the Star-News reported, with one neighbour telling cops someone had allegedly fled the scene.

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The district attorney spokesperson told the Star-News that Grant had allegedly told law enforcement Stewart threatened him with knife and there was a Navy Seal inside the residence.

Grant’s defence attorney told the Star-News that the account was false and he had “co-operated with law enforcement throughout the incident and was never questioned prior to being detained.

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“Grant’s defending attorney described the incident as a clear case of self-defence,” the Star-News reported, and that Grant has no criminal record, two young children and family in the Wilmington area.

Grant, who was born in Goldsboro, N.C., and drafted out of Charles B. Aycock High School in nearby Pikeville, spent four seasons in the Blue Jays’ minor-league system, starting with the rookie-level Medicine Hat Blue Jays and Pulaski Blue Jays before peaking at single-A with the Auburn Doubledays.

The right-handed pitcher finished his minor-league career with a 6-14 record, 4.72 ERA, 1.591 WHIP and 111 strikeouts over 169 2/3 innings.

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