On May 28, 2023, just before 3:00 a.m., three people were shot in Lumberton, North Carolina. Two survivors — 43-year-old Nicholes Leggett of Fairmont and 35-year-old Marcus Alford of Lumberton — arrived separately at UNC Health Southeastern with gunshot wounds. Officers then located the body of 43-year-old James Edward Blount Jr. inside his home at 2131 Nevada Street; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Blount lived at that address.

Leggett was later identified as a suspect. After treatment at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, South Carolina, he was arrested on June 2, 2023, on warrants from Lumberton and extradited to North Carolina. Charges include first-degree murder in Blount’s death, attempted first-degree murder of Marcus Dwayne Alford, two counts of attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of discharging a weapon into occupied property, and discharging a firearm within city limits. Leggett was held at the Robeson County Detention Center; bond was set at $500,000 for the non-homicide charges and he was held without bond on the murder count.

The motive has not been disclosed. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Yvette Pitts at 910-671-3845.