A Winston-Salem man who opened fire on two semi-trucks along Interstate 40 in Davie County two summers ago has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for illegally possessing the gun he used in the attack. Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Eagles handed down the sentence on July 28 in Greensboro federal court against 43-year-old John Franklin Barrow Jr., who pleaded guilty in April to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The federal case, announced by FBI Charlotte, followed a joint investigation by the Winston-Salem Police Department, Davie County Sheriff's Office, Forsyth County Sheriff's Office and the FBI Charlotte Field Office, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Cross-county coordination was needed because the shooting spree started in Davie County and ended in Forsyth County, the FBI Charlotte statement notes. The 15-year term, followed by three years of supervised release, is the maximum statutory penalty available under 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(8), as amended by the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which raised the felon-in-possession ceiling from 10 to 15 years, according to L&L Law Group.
Gunfire From Mocksville to the Interstate
The violence began around 2:30 p.m. on August 1, 2024, when Davie County 911 dispatchers received multiple calls reporting gunfire along Valley Road and Yadkinville Road in Mocksville, where deputies later recovered several shell casings, per the research record tied to the Davie County Enterprise Record. Authorities said Barrow drove through Mocksville firing a handgun into the air before entering I-40 at the Highway 601 exit.
Around 2:42 p.m., Barrow fired at a semi-truck traveling eastbound on I-40 in Davie County, striking the driver in the head and shoulder and sending the tractor-trailer off the roadway and into a tree line, according to WFMY News 2. The driver, who was operating the tractor-trailer for Unifi Global, was treated for life-threatening injuries but survived, and he later told investigators he had no prior connection to Barrow. Shortly after that crash, Barrow shot at a second semi-truck on I-40, damaging the vehicle; that driver also told investigators he did not know Barrow, and the Justice Department's account describes both attacks as unprovoked.
Arrest at a Winston-Salem Parking Lot
Winston-Salem police tracked Barrow's green Chevrolet Suburban to the parking lot of a commercial site on Highland Oaks Drive near an Outback Steakhouse, where officers detained him until Davie County deputies arrived, the station's report states. Officers seized a loaded handgun from Barrow's pocket and recovered nine cartridge casings and 26 live rounds from inside the SUV.
A Felony Record Stretching Back to 2002
Federal law bars anyone convicted of a felony punishable by more than a year in prison from possessing firearms or ammunition, and prosecutors say Barrow's record made him a clear target for that statute. His prior North Carolina felony convictions date back to 2002 and include larceny of a firearm, conspiracy to sell fentanyl, attempted breaking and entering, manufacturing marijuana, obtaining property by false pretense, larceny from the person, and a previous attempted firearm possession by a felon charge, according to the Justice Department's announcement.
Before the federal sentence, Barrow already faced consequences at the state level. On May 15, a Davie County Superior Court judge sentenced him to two consecutive prison terms of 144 to 185 months for felony discharging a weapon into occupied property causing serious bodily injury and felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill — charges that directly addressed the shooting of the semi-truck driver on I-40. The federal firearms sentence adds to, rather than replaces, that state punishment.
