Who was Julie Eberly? Mother-of-6 shot through car door in 'senseless' road rage incident in North Carolina
LUMBERTON, NC: It was supposed to be a very special day for Ryan Eberly and his wife Julie, who were headed to celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary. Little did they know that it was going to be their last trip together. Ryan is now opening up about the tragic road rage shooting that took his wife's life on March 25. On Thursday, at around 11.40 am, Ryan's wife Julie was shot through her car's passenger door, the Robeson County Sheriff's Office said in a press release on Facebook.
At the time of the shooting, Julie and Ryan had been driving southbound on Interstate 95, on their way to a romantic getaway on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, to celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary. Investigators have identified the shooter’s vehicle from surveillance footage as a silver four-door Chevrolet Malibu with North Carolina tags.
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Reward for information on suspect
On Friday, in another press release, the sheriff's office said that a $10,000 reward was being offered for information "leading to probable cause for the issuance of warrants and the arrest of the suspect(s) responsible for the murder of Julie Eberly."
"The reward was provided to the Sheriff on Friday afternoon by a Robeson County resident that wishes to remain anonymous," the press release said.
"While we hope that anyone with information in this case would come forward, this provided incentive should be cause to do so even more. I appreciate the resident coming forth with this reward," Sheriff Burnis Wilkins reportedly said in a statement. Robeson County officials have also released a photo of the suspect's car. The car is a silver four-door Chevrolet Malibu that was made between the 2008-2013 with North Carolina tags. The car has tinted windows and chrome trimming around the window frame.
Anyone with information about the shooting is encouraged to call 910-671-3170 or email sheriff@robesoncoso.org. Those who lives along Elm Street and Roberts Avenue in Lumberton have been asked to review their own surveillance systems for images of the car. Investigators are looking for footage between 11:40 am to 12:30 pm on March 25.
What happened that day?
"I changed lanes, and a car was coming behind me. I didn't see that he was going around me. I pushed him to the shoulder mistakenly. As soon as I was able, I gave him room to get back on the highway. No car contact," Ryan reportedly recalled the incident.
Ryan recalls how the vehicle came back toward the couple's car. "I saw in my mirror that he was passing us to the right. Gunshots were fired, and our car was hit. My wife yelled my name, and I asked if she was hit. She said yes," Ryan said, according to the latest reports.
After that, Ryan took his wife Julie to the UNC Southeastern Hospital, where she died.
Who was Julie Eberly?
Julie Eberly was from Manheim, Pennsylvania and she is survived by six children and her husband, Ryan.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for her family that also describes Julie. The campaign page says: "Our dear Julie was taken too soon in a senseless shooting incident in Lumberton, NC on her way to vacation," the page reads. Describing Julie as "a beautiful, loving, generous, and giving person", the aim of the GoFundMe page is to use the funds to "help others and to give to the organizations that were close to her heart." At the time of writing this article, the page had collected $59,245 from 1.2k donors.
Ryan told the local news station, "I need, as a husband, to do everything in my physical power to do whatever I can to bring her justice."