Property line dispute ends with 1 dead and a retired deputy wounded, NC cops say

A dispute over property lines turned deadly when neighbors pulled guns and started firing at each other, according investigators in North Carolina.

The shooting left a 65-year-old man dead and a retired sheriff’s deputy wounded, the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

It happened around 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, along a sparsely populated road northeast of Taylorsville.

“Alexander County 911 Communications Center received a call reporting a civil dispute on Never Mountain Road. ... Five minutes later, at 11:19 a.m., a second 911 call was received from the same location reporting that a shooting had occurred and two individuals had been shot,” the sheriff’s office said.

“One of the victims, Robert Alan Carpenter ... was pronounced deceased at the scene. A second individual, sustained a gunshot wound was treated by Alexander County EMS and transported to Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem.”

The wounded man has been identified as 74-year-old Joey Albert Williams, a former deputy with the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office, officials said. He retired in 2009.

An investigation revealed Carpenter and Williams were engaged in “a civil dispute over property boundaries,” officials said.

“The dispute escalated, resulting in an exchange of gunfire involving these two individuals with multiple shots fired,” the sheriff’s office said.

Details of Williams’ injuries were not released.

No arrest has been made as deputies investigate what led to weapons being involved in the dispute.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) was alerted and will do its own investigation, due to Williams being a former deputy, officials said.

Taylorsville is about a 65-mile drive northwest from Charlotte.