Airman killed on North Center Street
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on August 1, 2016 1:46 PM
Full Size
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A police officer with the Goldsboro Police Department investigates the scene of the Sunday morning shooting that left an active-duty airman dead.
An active duty airman stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base was shot and killed in downtown Goldsboro early Sunday morning.
The Goldsboro Police Department responded to a report of a person being shot in the 100 block of North Center Street around 2:30 a.m., and found Ryan Apollo Morgan, 32, suffering from a gunshot wound.
Morgan was taken to the emergency room at Wayne Memorial Hospital, where he died as a result of his wounds.
According to a release from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Morgan was originally from Alabama and had been stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base since 2013. He enlisted in the Air Force in 2009.
Morgan was a senior airman working as a contract specialist for the 4th Contracting Squadron on base.
Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West said when reached by phone late Sunday evening that police believed they had arrested someone involved in the incident following a car chase on Chestnut Street directly after the incident, around 2:45 a.m. Sunday, but the person does not appear to have been involved.
The report of someone being shot on Center Street Sunday morning came in to Wayne County Dispatch as a 911 call, West said, and the caller advised dispatch that they believed a black or a silver car was involved in the shooting.
West said police believed they had located the vehicle driving away from the scene on Chestnut Street.
West said a chase ensued and the vehicle crashed on Chestnut Street, and the occupants of the vehicle leapt out of the car and fled on foot.
Officers tracked down one person that fled the vehicle after it crashed, which is the man police initially believed was involved in the incident, West said. Police were unable to catch anyone else who fled from the car, West said.
West said nothing came out of interviews with the man apprehended following the chase.
"He claimed he was not the driver of the car," West said. "He claimed he was asleep during the chase and woke up when he heard the sirens of the police car."
The killing marks the second violent death in Goldsboro in slightly more than a week. Atiya Tijonna Maddox, 19, of 104 Stoney Run Drive, was shot and killed near the intersection of Olivia Lane and Slaughter Street on July 22 during a shootout between the occupants of two cars.
Sunday morning's murder marks the eighth murder to happen in the city limits in 2016, making the murder count in Goldsboro higher so far in 2016 than it was in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Mayor Chuck Allen said his thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Morgan, and that the city would need to look at possibly making changes to root violence out of Goldsboro on the heels of the second murder in nine days.
"You ought to be able to walk down Center Street and feel safe," Allen said when reached by phone late Sunday evening. "You should be able to do that anywhere, but you should especially be able to do that on Center Street."
Allen said he believes people know who is committing the murders in the city, and that people with information about these murders should come forward and help police solve the cases.
"What makes this worse is that this was an airman," Allen said. "One of our charges when airman are stationed in our community is to protect these young guys when they come here."
Allen said the city could possibly look at putting more police downtown, but that the city cannot "stop people from shooting each other."
"We're not going to stop people from shooting each other," Allen said. "I think we have some bad people in our city, and we are going to have to work harder to get them out of our community."
Allen said he attended the Unity Prayer Walk on Saturday that was organized in response to the recent rash of violence in Goldsboro throughout July. It hit hard when Morgan was murdered only hours after the walk that called for peace was held, Allen said.
"When I was at the walk, we were talking about how we had already had seven murders this year, and how we could all come together to stop the violence, and then this happened just a few hours later," Allen said.
Morgan's murder is under joint investigation by the Goldsboro Police Department and the Air Force Office of Special Investigation.
"Tragedy can happen at any time whether you are deployed or at home station," said 4th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Christopher Sage. "However, no matter the location or type of incident that occurs, the Seymour Johnson (Air Force Base) family will stay strong in our support of family and friends suffering through this loss."
Anyone with information about this crime, or any other crime in Wayne County is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 919-735-2255 or text at 919-222-4230. Callers will remain anonymous and if your information leads to a felony arrest you will be given a cash reward for the information. Crime Stoppers gives cash rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to felony arrests. Crime Stoppers is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, funded solely by private donations. To make a donation, contact the Goldsboro-Wayne Crime Stoppers Director Rick Sutton at 919-734-8177.