A mother-of-six has died after being fatally shot in her moving car during a road-rage incident while she travelled to celebrate her wedding anniversary.
Julie Eberly, 47, suffered a gunshot wound on Interstate 95, north of Lumberton, North Carolina on Thursday.
Authorities were called to the scene by Ms Eberly’s husband Ryan Eberly, who was driving the couple from their home in Pennsylvania to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
The Eberlys’ car came close to the suspect’s vehicle while merging into a different lane just moments before the shooting, investigators said.
The suspect then drove next to the couple’s car, rolled down his window and opened fire towards the vehicle, with one bullet passing through the car door and hitting Ms Eberly.
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Her husband was not injured in the shooting. Ms Eberly was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead later that day.
Witnesses told the sheriff’s office that the suspect immediately drove away from the scene, taking the first exit off the highway.
Police have asked the public for help in identifying the suspect who was driving a 2010 silver Chevrolet Impala or Malibu with tinted windows and chrome possibly around the frames.
A reward of $10,000 has been offered for any information leading to the shooter’s arrest. The sheriff’s department said that the reward had been donated by a local resident.
Robeson County sheriff Burnis Wilkins said that none of the couple’s six children were present in the car at the time of the shooting.
“This was an innocent family from Pennsylvania headed to the beach for a vacation,” Sheriff Wilkins said. “Thankfully they had left their six children at home with grandparents but now these kids have to live with the thought of their mother being murdered in such a cowardly and senseless way.”
A GoFundMe page for Ms Eberly’s memorial had raised $36,524 on Sunday.
“We want to raise funds to honor Julie and her life. Julie was a beautiful, loving, generous, and giving person,” her family wrote in a statement. “We will be using the funds to help others and to give to the organizations that were close to her heart. May Julie’s death not be in vain and may her memory live on by the giving in her name.”
