A gun battle on Ward Street in Whiteville sent bullets tearing into a car and a house on Friday night, leaving two men facing felony charges and one person taken to the hospital by private vehicle. Police say 34-year-old Shyreak William Belton and 19-year-old Arthur Dale Jackson allegedly shot at each other with a brown pistol and an AR-15 pattern handgun, and both are now being held without bond at the Columbus County Detention Center.
According to Columbus County News, area residents reported hearing multiple gunshots on August 14, and police maintained a large presence in the neighborhood afterward. Warrants indicate that Jackson fired multiple rounds into Belton's home at 429 Ward Street, and that Belton returned fire, striking Jackson's Chevrolet Equinox. A woman was reportedly with Jackson in the vehicle during the exchange, per the warrants, though her condition and any further involvement have not been detailed publicly.
At least one person was taken to Columbus Regional by private vehicle on the night of the shooting rather than by ambulance, the outlet reported. Columbus Regional Healthcare System serves as Columbus County's primary trauma hospital and operates a helipad for critical medical transports, underscoring how serious injuries in the area are typically routed. Who exactly was transported, and their current condition, remains an open question that Columbus County News says it is still trying to confirm with Whiteville police.
A House Already on Police Radar
Belton's address on Ward Street was not unfamiliar to investigators. Just three and a half months before the shootout, Whiteville Police and the Columbus County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at the same 429 Ward Street residence, seizing two handguns along with MDMA and marijuana, according to Columbus County News. That April raid led to Belton's arrest on charges of maintaining a dwelling for drug activity and drug distribution within 1,000 feet of a school.
The raid was part of a broader push by Whiteville police to target drug and firearm violence. Whiteville Police Chief Paul Rockenbach said earlier this year that U.S. Department of Justice grant funding allowed the department to establish dedicated narcotics officers within its Criminal Investigation Division specifically to get ahead of that kind of violence, per the same outlet's reporting. It is unclear from available records what became of Belton's pending drug charges from that raid in the months before Friday's shootout.
Charges Stack Up on Both Sides
Jackson faces some of the most serious charges in the case, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling, discharging a firearm within city limits, and possession of a handgun by a minor. Belton is charged with firing into an occupied vehicle. Under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-34.1, willfully discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle or structure is a Class E felony carrying up to 63 months in prison, while discharging into an occupied dwelling is elevated to a Class D felony — a distinction that helps explain why Jackson's exposure appears heavier than Belton's on the property-damage counts alone.
The assault charge against Jackson carries its own high bar. North Carolina General Statute § 14-32 classifies assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill as a felony that requires prosecutors to prove specific intent to kill with a lethal weapon, according to the UNC School of Government. Jackson's handgun possession charge stems from N.C.G.S. § 14-269.7, which the Giffords Law Center notes makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for anyone under 18 to willfully carry a handgun, while separate state and federal statutes generally restrict handgun sales and permits to those under 21.
Why Neither Man Can Post Bond
Both Belton and Jackson are being held without bond under North Carolina's Pretrial Integrity Act, a 2023 law that strips magistrates of the power to set bail for a list of severe violent felonies, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and discharging a firearm into occupied property. The law instead requires a district court judge to determine release conditions within 48 hours of arrest. Hoodline previously detailed how that same law kept a Riegelwood father held without bond in a separate Columbus County case earlier in August.
Investigators are also examining reports that stray gunfire from the exchange struck electrical equipment, sparking a utility pole fire near Central Middle School later that night, according to community reports and local coverage cited by the Columbus County Ledger. Whether that fire will lead to additional charges tied to the stray rounds has not been announced.
Part of a Wider Pattern in Columbus County
The Ward Street shootout is the latest in a string of violent firearm cases across Columbus County this year. Just days earlier, two suspects were charged with murder in a Chadbourn drive-by shooting into a home, a case Hoodline covered in a teen's drive-by killing that took seven months to bring charges. Local police have also relied on tools like Flock Safety automated license plate readers, which the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes both the Whiteville Police Department and the Columbus County Sheriff's Office have used since 2022 to track vehicle movements — a system that could factor into how investigators identified and located Jackson's Chevrolet Equinox.
Columbus County News reported that it reached out to Whiteville police for additional information on the shootout and had not received further comment at the time of publication. Open questions remain, including the identity and condition of the person taken to Columbus Regional, whether the woman in Jackson's vehicle or anyone else could face charges, and the status of the utility pole fire investigation near Central Middle School.
