By BOB HIGH

Four members of a gang centered on the west side of Whiteville – including three members of this season’s Whiteville High School football team -- have been arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injuries in the March 10 beating of a 19-year-old.

“These guys are from a gang we didn’t know the name of, and my best guess is it’s been around here for at least a year,” Whiteville Police Detective Bobby Fowler said Friday.

Fowler said he and SBI Agent Mac Warner had identified six males as the ones who used their hands and feet to inflict punishment to a 19-year-old from Brunswick on March 10 that left Jeremy Bullock with permanent, and probably life-long disabling injuries.

Those arrested are:

• Reggie James Bellamy, 18, of Michael’s Pathway, Chadbourn.

• Christopher Dewayne “Snooky” Campbell, 19, of Chadbourn Highway, Whiteville.

• Christopher Paul “C Roll” Rowland, 17, of Pinewood Drive, Whiteville.

• Andrew Winfred Powell, 18, a native of Durham who lives along Stanley Street, Whiteville.

All four are charged with felony assault and conspiracy to commit assault. Bellamy, Rowland and Powell were first-string performers for the high school’s 2005 football squad.

The detective said teens call themselves Hell’s Gangster Disciples, a part of the Folk Nation Gang that can be traced to one of the first gangs formed many years ago on the West Coast – the Crypts.

Other gangs known to operate in and about Whiteville include the “Circle Boys” from the Stanley Circle area between Brunswick and Whiteville; the Black Knights here, and the Bloods known to be in the Chadbourn community.

The beating in the park at the end of West Columbus Street – on the heels of a shooting incident while youngsters were practicing baseball on the adjacent field behind Central Middle School – prompted the closure of the park for 10 days.

Bullock was found unconscious near the park’s basketball court at 9:30 p.m. on March 10 and taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center after initial treatment here.

Bullock has “severe brain damage,” and his condition could last for years before he can manage to re-learn basic movements such as speech, feeding himself, and walking, the detective said.

“His condition is such that the doctors don’t know how long it’ll be at this point, but they say it’ll be a long time before he can be rehabilitated, even if it can be done,” Fowler added.

Fowler was tight-lipped about how the young gang members lured Bullock to the park, and said none of them wanted to talk about the beating or give any history of their gang.

Fowler said he expected to make at least two more arrests in the beating case. A suitable photograph of Rowland was not available.