Goldsboro shooting suspect leads police on 20-mile chase

The suspect in a shooting Thursday night that left a man critically injured was arrested after leading authorities on an approximately 20-mile chase from Goldsboro to Smithfield, police said.

Police said that a gunman shot and wounded Howard Bennett Harper, 43, at his home at 123 Kathy Lane around 5 p.m. A second man in the home – Joseph Perry Harper, of Denver, Colo. – was not injured.

Howard Harper was flown to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, where he was in critical condition early Friday.

About two hours later, police said, an officer spotted a vehicle on West Ash Street that matched the description of one used the shooting. The driver pulled over but sped away when the officer approached, police said.

The driver – identified as Onza Lee Brown Jr., 33, of 504 Park Ave. – led police on a chase along Old Smithfield Road into Johnston County. Police said that he eventually pulled over in the 1000 block of Brodgen Road in Smithfield and was taken into custody without incident.

Brown had suffered self-inflicted cuts on both wrists and was treated at Wayne Memorial Hospital, police said.

He was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of felony fleeing to elude arrest with a motor vehicle and reckless driving to endanger. He was placed in the Wayne County jail under a more than $1 million secured bond. His first court appearance was set for Friday.