On August 11, 2023, at about 2:40 a.m., deputies from the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office found two people with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle near Deep Branch Road and Recreation Center Road, close to Purnell Swett High School between Maxton and Pembroke, North Carolina. Thirty-eight-year-old Brooke Danielle Dial of Pembroke was pronounced dead at the scene; 32-year-old Cedric Locklear of Rowland was taken to a hospital and was expected to survive.

Investigators identified 31-year-old Brandon Keith Locklear of Lumberton as the primary suspect and announced multiple charges including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was apprehended during a traffic stop near U.S. Highway 74 and Hilly Branch Road in Lumberton on August 12, 2023, and held at the Robeson County Detention Center without bond. The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Division led the investigation and asked for anyone with information to come forward.

Brooke Dial was born December 18, 1984, in Robeson County and is survived by her son Gabriel Smith, her mother Denise Lloyd Dial, and several siblings; a funeral service was held August 22, 2023, at Deep Branch Baptist Church in Lumberton.