PARSIPPANY — Myles Dacres, 24, of Parsippany, was charged Wednesday with Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution in connection with the murder of Raijah Scott, Cedar Knolls, on August 18, 2021, according to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
Surveillance video refutes Dacres’ story, according to legal documents filed in the case. The documents also connect Dacres with the suspected getaway vehicle– a white Land Rover that police searched for in the hours after the killing.
Dacres told investigators an “unknown light-skinned Hispanic male” did the shooting, then drove away from Clyde Potts Drive in a white Land Rover Discovery-owned by Dacres’ mother, according to documents filed by Morristown Police.
The man charged with the murder, Tyrell Lansing, 27, of Morristown, was indeed at the scene that evening–but he was driven home about 40 minutes before the shooting by another person, in the same Land Rover, Dacres allegedly told investigators on the day of the crime.
But the video shows Lansing and Dacres standing together in front of the vehicle moments before the gunfire, according to a statement from Morristown DetectiveKevin Beal.
The two men subsequently entered the Land Rover. After the shooting, Dacres exited the driver’s seat, got out, and the vehicle drove off, according to the detective.
Beal asserted the video fails to corroborate other claims by Dacres: That he wrestled with an unknown Hispanic male who refused to exit the passenger seat, felt a gun, and walked around to the driver’s seat.
When he got there, the man opened fire, then told him to drive, Dacres allegedly told investigators. Instead, the story goes, Dacres exited the Land Rover, and the unknown shooter drove away.
Lansing shot the 35-year-old Scott, a Cedar Knolls resident, multiple times, authorities say. They say the crime occurred around 1:00 a.m. in the parking area of 28 Clyde Potts Drive, in Morristown’s Manahan Village public housing community. A group had gathered outside that evening celebrating a birthday, neighbors say.
The shooting was declared as homicide by the county medical examiner’s office.
Police also charged Lansing with the unlawful taking of the Land Rover, a fourth-degree offense.
Lansing and DeQuan McDaniel, 27, of Dover, were arrested in Tulsa, OK, a day after the shooting — not in the Land Rover, but in McDaniel’s Hyundai Elantra. Lansing and McDaniel are being held in Tulsa pending extradition to Morris County.
Dacres is being held in the Morris County Jail. He could face up to five years in prison and a $15,000 fine if convicted of the third-degree charge of hindering the murder investigation.
Editor’s Note: An arrest or the signing of a criminal complaint is merely an accusation. Despite this accusation, the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until he or she has been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
