On November 28, 2024, at about 1:30 a.m., 55-year-old Robert Cummings was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound in the front yard of a residence on West Barbee Street near Primrose Place in Zebulon, North Carolina. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead. The Zebulon Police Department has treated the incident as isolated and said there is no ongoing threat to the community.

On December 20, 2024, 43-year-old Jason Linwood Hedges was arrested at his home on East Vance Street and charged with murder in connection with the shooting; he is being held without bail at the Wake County Detention Center. A second arrest followed when 30-year-old Armond Duval Ledbetter was charged with accessory after the fact, accused of assisting Hedges in fleeing the scene; Ledbetter was released on a $50,000 secured bond. Family members told investigators the shooting may have followed an earlier altercation involving Cummings, his brother, and others outside the home.

Cummings’ funeral service was held December 8, 2024, at Beavers Chapel Christian Church, with interment at Gethsemane Memorial Gardens. Does anyone have information about the altercation that preceded the shooting or anything seen on West Barbee Street that night?