Father and son shot near North Charleston while working to house a family in need

Bryan and Mike Cooke are shown in a family photo from Bryan's wedding day. Mike officiated the ceremony. Provided/Lauren Cooke Hansen.

Michael Bryan Cooke was helping put the finishing touches on a home for a family in need when he was shot and killed near North Charleston. His father, 64-year-old Charles Michael Cooke, was also shot and was in an intensive care unit Saturday evening, police confirmed.

A landlord who manages more than 20 properties in the crime-challenged area decided she’d like to house homeless veterans, so she hired the older Cooke to help. Michael Bryan Cooke, a 41-year-old Mount Pleasant resident who went by Bryan, was helping his father Friday morning, family said.

Together, Mary Chason, the Cookes and other contractors refurbished seven homes for veterans between October and Christmas. They hadn’t had a problem with crime yet, Chason said.

That ended Friday morning when investigators for the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office say a burglary ended in Bryan's murder. 

The Sheriff's Office arrested two 18-year-olds and charged each with one count of murder, attempted murder, weapon possession and first-degree burglary. Suspects Aaron Jordan White and Daquintez Jermont Gadsden waived their right to a bond hearing Saturday morning, a court representative said.

Chason said she got a call from a neighbor of 3030 Matipan Ave, which is in an unincorporated neighborhood not far off Cosgrove Avenue. The neighbor told Chason the men had been shot, and Chason took off for the scene.

“By the time we got there, the police wouldn’t let us down the street,” Chason said.

Michael Bryan Cooke, 41, with his now-5-year-old daughter. Cooke was shot and killed Friday morning while working on a renovation project for a family in need.

Officers pronounced Bryan dead at the scene, according to a press release from the sheriff's office. An affidavit shows Charles Michael Cooke was taken to Medical University Hospital with "life-threatening" injuries, but was in stable condition Saturday evening.

Sheriff's Office detectives went to Greg Mathis Charter High School to ask if any students were absent or late. Officers were told the two suspects got to school shortly after 11 a.m., less than 10 minutes after the crime reportedly happened. Both were sweating, according to the affidavit, and they matched the description the older Cooke gave. 

White confessed to a detective, saying he went inside the Matipan Avenue home intending to rob it. He brandished a pistol. The affidavit states both Cookes were unarmed, but a fight broke out. White said he confessed to shooting both men, and said Gadsden was there but not "ultimately responsible." The two teenagers fled to school together.

Jennifer Smith, Bryan’s cousin, said the family cannot understand what she called a random crime. Smith said Bryan led a worship team at Life Community Church, a non-denominational church in Mount Pleasant. He was a landscaper in the summer months and helped his father, who went by Mike, with plumbing jobs in the winter.

Much of the family lives in the area, Smith said. Bryan played baseball at Wando High School and attended the College of Charleston, she said.

“He is the guy who included everybody. He did not have an enemy,” Smith said. “They were really happy to be working on something so worthwhile.”

Investigators from the Charleston County Sheriff's Office look in the front yard at 3030 Matipan Avenue in an unincorporated community near North Charleston Friday morning, Feb. 23, 2018. Deputies responded about 11 a.m. to a report of gunfire and found one man shot to death and another injured.

Chason said a friend of the family entrusted her with the 20-odd properties. Wanting to do something useful with the dilapidated homes, she said she approached Veterans Affairs about housing veterans.

The four-bedroom Matipan Avenue home was bigger than what a single veteran would need, Chason said, so she lined up a tenant who works for the county. The future tenant needs to be closer to work and health care for her mother, who requires dialysis, Chason said.

Both Bryan and Mike found it spiritually rewarding to help Chason with the renovations, Smith said. Bryan left behind a wife and a 5-year-old daughter. Smith began a Go Fund Me to raise money for his family. Funds will go toward helping Bryan's wife and daughter — his wife has stayed home in recent years to raise the child, according to the GoFundMe.

Messages of condolences, prayers and support built up on the fundraiser page through Saturday afternoon.

White and Gadsden were booked into the Al Cannon Detention Center late Friday afternoon. White is a resident of Tiffany Lane in Summerville. Gadsden lives on Sumner Avenue in North Charleston, records state. Cooke's murder is the first homicide reported this year in the sheriff's jurisdiction. It is the fifth in the tri-county region.

Chason said she told the new resident she would understand if she didn’t want to move in. The future tenant considered the choice and still wants to make the move, Chason said.

The renovation was supposed to be done at noon — just an hour after investigators said the two men were shot.