On August 11, 2023, at about 2:30 p.m., officers from the Boone Police Department responded to a shooting near the Bojangles on Blowing Rock Road (Highway 321) and found 38-year-old Justin Wayne Newberry lying in the roadway at the Winkler’s Creek Road intersection with a gunshot wound. He was taken to Watauga Medical Center and pronounced dead. Preliminary investigation indicated the shooting followed a road rage encounter with another driver, identified as 54-year-old William Ray Bristol of Caldwell County; Bristol remained at the scene and cooperated with police.

Boone Police Chief Andy Le Beau expressed condolences to Newberry’s family and said the department was coordinating with the District Attorney’s office to determine the appropriate course of action. As of the latest report, no charges had been filed and the investigation remained active. Newberry was born November 26, 1984, and was remembered as a devoted father who had recently celebrated the birth of his daughter, Ouida Neomi-Ray Newberry.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or the road rage incident that preceded it, please share what you know.