WILMINGTON — A local teen pled guilty in New Hanover County Superior Court Monday to the second-degree murder of another teen.
Daquan Curtis Long, 18, will serve between 20 and 25 years for shooting 17-year-old Ziyon Cuttino outside of a home on Anderson Street in September 2022. Long was 17 at the time of the incident and has his case transferred from Juvenile Court to Superior Court shortly after he was charged.
Witnesses reported that there had been tensions between Long’s family and members of another family who lived down the street. Cuttino, who did not reside on Anderson Street, was walking by Long’s residence with a group of young people on Sept. 24. With him, was a person with whom Long had been feuding.
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 fist fight. Long then retrieved a shotgun from inside of his house and chased members of Cuttino’s group down the sidewalk. When he returned, Cuttino and the other male were still fighting. Long then fired one shot at Cuttino, hitting him in the abdomen. Long fled before police arrived. Cuttino was transported to the hospital but died during surgery.
Long turned himself into authorities later that night, after officers located surveillance video and a clip from a cell phone that recorded the incident.
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