Family pleads for justice, sheriff offers $20,000 reward in Hoke County drive-by shooting

On Friday, Jan. 8 around 9 p.m., deputies responded to a drive-by shooting on Duffie Road near Old Maxton Road and found a car with Woods and three other people inside. Investigators say another car pulled up beside Woods and someone began shooting.

Woods, who was driving, was shot and died the next day. His fiancé, in the front passenger seat, was shot but survived her injuries, and the two people in the backseat were not shot.

Woods' family joined the sheriff's press conference Tuesday. They said what was supposed to be a night of joy and fun ended in a nightmare.

"We had gone out to eat for my daughter's birthday," said Tonya Woods, the victim's sister-in-law. "A day that was supposed to be full of happiness ... we laughed, we took pictures ... and we never knew what was to come later on that day."

Instead, the day ended in tragedy for the family.

Woods' twin, Nehemia Woods, said, "Jeremiah was shot on my daughter's birthday and passed away on my wife's birthday. That's two days meant to be celebrated and now they're days of sadness and constant reminders of what was taken from us."

A person of interest has been identified, Peterkin said Tuesday, but the Hoke County Sheriff's Office is still following leads and seeking information from the public.

"This family is suffering. They want some closure. The impact has been unbelievable," Pterkin said, as Woods' relatives cried beside him.

"Please. I beg you. If you know anything, please come forward," Tonya Woods said. "There's no words to describe what we've lost when we lost him. Nothing is the same. Nothing can ever be the same."

Through donations over the last seven months, the public raised $10,000, which will go toward the $20,000 reward.