Grand jury returns murder indictment for '04 shooting
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on February 10, 2006 1:53 PM
A 20-year-old man from Winston-Salem has been indicted by the Wayne County Grand Jury in the first-degree murder of a Goldsboro man in a restaurant parking lot.
Shawn Naurice Holmes was accused of the fatal shooting of Lashonnie Maurice Howell on Feb. 19, 2004, in the Waffle House parking lot on Wayne Memorial Drive.
The 33-year-old Howell, who lived on John Court, was shot several times at about 3:30 a.m. He was rushed by ambulance to Wayne Memorial Hospital, where he died later from his injuries.
Holmes, who has relatives in Goldsboro, surrendered Feb. 28, 2004, at the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. He was turned over to Goldsboro police Sgt. Seth Harris and Special Agent Barbara Lewis of the State Bureau of Investigation.
Attempted murder
A Fremont man has been indicted on a charge of attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill while inflicting serious injury and discharge of a weapon into occupied property.
Jonathan Anthony Uzzell, 27, of Wooten Street, was accused of shooting a firearm into a car at about 1 p.m. July 16 at West South and South Pine streets in Fremont and wounding the lone occupant, Frederick Montrel Williams, 24, of Wilson.
William Young, a part-time Fremont police officer and full-time Wayne County sheriff's deputy, arrived at the scene and launched an investigation with the help of Sgt. Wayne Schwark.
Uzzell was developed as a suspect, and he turned himself in about 12 hours after the shooting. He posted a $30,000 secured bond and was released from the Wayne County Jail.
Other indictments
The grand jurors handed up 58 other true bills of indictment during their February meeting.
The grand jury returned a no-true bill against one defendant, Fremandeus Connell Williams, 26, of Devereaux Street. He was charged by Goldsboro police with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He could still be tried on the charge.
The grand jurors could not act on one bill, because a witness was not present.
Twenty-four defendants were indicted on drug charges, and 11 others were indicted on such property crimes as breaking and entering, larceny and possession of stolen goods.
The grand jury returned six true bills on assault charges, four each on weapons, sex and fraud charges and three on arson charges.
Three people were indicted as habitual felons. If they are convicted of a fourth, non-overlapping crime, then they would be sentenced to significantly longer terms.
Several defendants were indicted on charges in more than one crime category.