On May 7, 2024, at about 3:00 a.m., deputies responded to a drive-by shooting at the home of 68-year-old Howard Lewis Ward on the 700 block of Blackjack Road near Kelford, North Carolina. Ward was struck in the head while inside his residence and taken to ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville in critical condition; he died of his injuries on May 15, 2024. Investigators say the attack appears targeted and that evidence points to multiple shooters.

Deputies note this was not the first time Ward’s house had been shot at — officers had responded to the same address on April 7, 2024, after bullets struck the home. No arrests or publicly identified suspects have been announced. Funeral services were held May 22, 2024, at Beautiful Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Lewiston, with burial at Wilder-Cherry Family Cemetery in Aulander.

Anyone with information about the shooting or the earlier April incident is asked to contact the Bertie County Sheriff’s Office.