Brandon Mandrell Murphy, 37, a Black man from Elm City, North Carolina, was shot and killed on Main Street between Parker and Anderson streets around 2:00 a.m. on October 2, 2025. Deputies found him lying in the roadway after an altercation that investigators say immediately preceded the gunfire. Local obituaries and gun-violence remembrances noted his death that day.

Investigators reported the confrontation involved Murphy and another man; minutes later shots rang out and Murphy was left dead. Authorities identified and arrested 36-year-old Marcus Antwan Wiley in Jacksonville on October 9, 2025, after a coordinated operation by the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Officials said Wiley fled Elm City after the shooting and was located using criminal intelligence and technology; they described a possible motive of retaliation tied to an alleged 2024 assault on Wiley’s grandmother while Wiley was in federal custody. Wiley had been released from federal custody on April 15, 2025.

Detectives also arrested Marilin Latonya Wiley, 57, and Latasha Renee Brown, 43, on accessory-after-the-fact charges and said the investigation remained active. Did anyone in Elm City see activity on Main Street that night or have information about the confrontation leading up to the shooting?