A man was shot at the Bojangles restaurant on Village Road Northeast in Leland Monday evening, sending him to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries as police detained everyone involved in the incident. Officers with the Leland Police Department arrived at the scene at 7:30 p.m. and located the victim before he was transported for treatment.
The shooting happened at the Bojangles located at 109 Village Road Northeast, according to Port City Daily, whose editor in chief Shea Carver reported that Leland police remained on scene investigating the shooting as of Monday evening. Village Road NE functions as a central commercial corridor in Leland, lined with restaurants and retail that see steady traffic throughout the day and into the evening.
Law enforcement has detained all individuals involved in the altercation, and the same report notes there is no ongoing threat to the public. The identities of those detained, any resulting criminal charges, and the motive behind the shooting have not yet been disclosed.
A Department With New State Accreditation
The investigation falls to a police department that just months ago earned a significant credential. In January, the Leland Police Department received full state accreditation from the North Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation program after demonstrating compliance with 116 operational standards, according to the Town of Leland. The department was one of only 14 law enforcement agencies statewide to hold that accreditation at the time.
Leland PD is led by Police Chief Jeremy Humphries, who was appointed to the role in May 2022 after joining the department in 2012, per Port City Daily's earlier reporting. The agency employs more than 50 sworn officers and three non-sworn staff members covering Leland's 27-square-mile jurisdiction, according to the Town of Leland.
Growth Reshaping a Once-Quiet Suburb
Monday's shooting adds to a short but notable string of major firearm incidents in Leland over the past year. In September 2025, a Brunswick County Sheriff's deputy was shot and wounded during an early-morning confrontation on Mercantile Drive that ended when deputies returned fire and killed the suspect, an incident that prompted an independent review by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. More recently, in February, the Brunswick County District Attorney's Office concluded that a fatal early-morning shooting on Dixie Drive in Leland was a legally justified act of self-defense by a local homeowner, per the Town of Leland.
Those incidents come as Leland has transformed into one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the country. North Carolina State Demographer estimates put Leland's 2024 population at 33,065, a 44.33 percent jump from the 22,908 residents counted in the 2020 census, making it Brunswick County's most populous town. Brunswick County itself was rated the fastest-growing county in North Carolina by the U.S. Census Bureau, expanding 24 percent between 2020 and 2024 to reach 169,448 residents.
Despite that rapid expansion, countywide violent crime has stayed below the state average. A North Carolina Department of Public Safety profile found Brunswick County recorded 231 violent crimes in 2023, a rate of 168 per 100,000 residents compared with the statewide average of 312 per 100,000, with aggravated assaults making up nearly 75 percent of those cases.
Leland has no in-town Level I or II trauma center, meaning patients with serious gunshot injuries are typically transported roughly 10 miles away to Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, according to the state public safety profile. It remains unclear whether Monday's victim was taken to that facility. As the investigation continues, police have not released further details on charges or the circumstances that led to the shooting.
