A North Carolina man has been arrested in a “road rage encounter” that killed a mother of six who was on a birthday trip with her husband, authorities said Thursday.
The man, Dejywan R. Floyd, 29, was arrested at an apartment in Lumberton, North Carolina early Thursday morning, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Mr. Floyd has been charged with first degree murder in the death of Julie Eberly, 47, of Manheim, Pa., And with discharging a gun at an occupied property.
Mr. Floyd was put into the Robeson County Detention Center without bail. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
The shooting took place before noon on March 25. Police said officers were dispatched over a report of a person shot dead on Interstate 95 in Lumberton, North Carolina, about 125 miles from Charlotte.
When officers, state soldiers and sheriff’s deputies arrived, they discovered Ms Eberly had been shot through the passenger door of the GMC Yukon that her husband, Ryan Eberly, was driving, according to the sheriff’s office.
Ms Eberly was taken to a medical center in Lumberton, where she later died. Mr. Eberly was not injured.
Police investigation revealed “road rage unknowingly developed” after the couple’s SUV approached Mr. Floyd’s Chevrolet Malibu in a lane-to-lane meltdown. other, according to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators said Mr. Floyd then moved to the passenger side of the SUV, rolled down his window “and fired several shots at the passenger door.”
Witnesses told investigators the driver then left and exited at Exit 22, police said. The Eberlys stopped on the highway and waited for medical assistance.
Using surveillance footage from dozens of businesses and local residents, investigators were able to track Mr. Floyd’s path both before and after the shooting, Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said in the statement. His office said the investigation was continuing.
“Whatever the circumstances, no one deserved to be murdered on the roads of our country,” Sheriff Wilkins said.
The couple had traveled to celebrate their seventh birthday that week, according to an online obituary from Ms Eberly. They were on their way to Hilton Head Island, SC, for a getaway, Sheriff Wilkins said.
Allyson Waller contributed reporting.
