A 65-year-old white male, Robert Alan Carpenter of Taylorsville, North Carolina, died on August 20, 2025, after a property-line dispute in the Ellendale community escalated into an exchange of gunfire late that morning. Deputies responding to Never Mountain Road found two men with gunshot wounds; Carpenter was pronounced dead at the scene while the other man was transported for treatment. The initial 911 call reported a civil dispute at 11:14 a.m., and a second call five minutes later reported shots fired, marking how quickly a simmering disagreement turned fatal.
Investigators identified the other party as 74-year-old Joey Albert Williams of Taylorsville, a former Alexander County Sheriff's Office deputy who retired in 2009. Because one of the involved men was a former deputy, the sheriff requested the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to lead the case. Statements released that day described multiple shots fired by both men during the confrontation, which began as a boundary dispute and spiraled into a deadly shootout.
As of the evening of August 20, authorities said no arrests had been made while investigators gathered evidence and interviewed witnesses. Local reports the following day continued to note that the inquiry remained active, with the SBI processing the scene and taking the lead on interviews. The victim was publicly named as Robert Alan Carpenter, age 65, and his death notices in regional outlets the week of the shooting confirmed his identity and hometown of Taylorsville.
