Ni’Reash Rayshaun Timmons, 27, was fatally shot on May 7, 2023, at about 1:32 a.m. during a drug transaction at a residence on the 1900 block of Palomino Drive in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Timmons, a South Carolina resident who had traveled to Fayetteville to buy narcotics, got into an altercation with 54-year-old Elmer Leon Spears of Fayetteville that ended when Spears shot him. Emergency responders pronounced Timmons dead at the scene.

Spears remained at the scene and was arrested by the Fayetteville Police Department; he was charged with first-degree murder and held without bond at the Cumberland County Detention Center. Timmons was born March 13, 1996, in Florence, South Carolina, graduated West Florence High School in 2014, and served in the U.S. Army until his honorable discharge in 2016. He is remembered by family for his devotion to his daughter LeiAnna, his contagious smile, charitable nature, and love of gospel music.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Fayetteville Police Department or Crime Stoppers.