Manhunt underway for potentially armed suspect near Rosewood
By John Joyce
Published in News on March 27, 2017 9:04 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office's helicopter unit is visible over the Rosewood community tonight and SWAT is standing by as a manhunt is underway for a potentially armed suspect.
Maj. Tom Effler said area residents should be careful, but there is no imminent danger to the community.
"We want (residents) to be cautious," he said. "We have someone on the loose and we don't know what he is capable of."
The search began after the Goldsboro Police Department responded to a report of a shooting at the Speedway at 1501 U.S. 70 West at 12:26 p.m.
No one was injured in that incident, Capt. Paige Learnard said, but a vehicle description of a red Ford Taurus and a license plate were obtained.
The vehicle came back registered to a man reported missing out of Raleigh on March 19.
Justice Lyons was reported missing by his mother.
He was last seen in the Goldsboro area March 14, but neither the sheriff's office nor Goldsboro police knew exactly where he had been last seen prior to the missing persons report being filed.
Other than the shooting suspect driving Lyon's car, there is no available information connecting the suspect to Lyon's disappearance.
"The car is the connection," Effler said.
Following the shooting incident, at 3:12 p.m., a suspicious person matching the suspect's description ---- a 5 foot, 9-inch tall black man with close cut hair or bald, in his 20s wearing blue jeans and a dirty white T-shirt ---- was called in to deputies in the Green Valley area.
At 4:39 p.m., deputies spotted the suspect's vehicle but no one was visible in the immediate area.
Effler said the deputies "set up" on the vehicle to watch and see if the suspect came back. In about half an hour, he did.
Deputies moved in, but the suspect tried to drive off. He wrecked the vehicle in a stand of trees atop a hill off of U.S. 70 West near the McDonald's.
The suspect then fled on foot and has not been seen since.
Learnard said police did pick up an item of evidence at the scene of the shooting, but at this point it has not yet been determined whether that item ---- she could not specify further what it is ---- is connected to today's shooting or an earlier incident.
Effler said Lyons did have acquaintances in the area, but Raleigh police are running the missing persons investigation.
Goldsboro police are investigating the shooting incident and assisting the sheriff's office with the manhunt.
During the early stages of the search, neighborhood residents were milling about in front of their homes.
Kathryn Peoples and Shannon Fulghum share a residence nearby.
"I just heard a big crash and ran out," Peoples said.
She saw blue lights and ran back in to wake Fulghum.
Fulghum came out of the house to see sheriff's deputies advancing on the car.
"I saw police drawing their guns and going toward the car," she said. "And there was nobody there."
The women said a K-9 unit was brought in and police searched around their house and their neighbor's homes, even under the houses, but no one was found.
"It's kind of scary," Fulghum said. "They said the guy is around and dangerous."
Peoples agreed.
"What's scary is they haven't found him yet."
Editor's note ---- At the time of this report the suspect had not been found. This story will be updated as new information becomes available.