Wendell Robinson Jr., 36, a male from Ellerbe, North Carolina, was found just before dawn on August 3, 2025, lying on the ground beside a home on Easterling Avenue. Deputies responding around 6:30 a.m. discovered that the 36-year-old male had been shot; he died from his injuries at the scene after a neighbor returned home and found him unresponsive.
The discovery set off a homicide investigation that drew in local rescue and medical personnel as detectives canvassed the small neighborhood for evidence and witnesses.
Investigators quickly identified a suspect, 28-year-old Raequan Lameek Ratliff of Hamlet. On August 5, authorities announced multiple warrants, including one for murder, and warned the public that Ratliff was armed and extremely dangerous as they searched for him. Their timeline described a quiet Sunday morning shattered by gunfire, with a resident’s 911 call leading deputies to the body of Wendell Robinson Jr., 36, the male victim whose death had jolted the Ellerbe community.
By August 6, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office reported Ratliff had been captured after fleeing to Rowan County, crediting cooperation among agencies for the arrest. Alongside the murder count in the killing of Wendell Robinson Jr., 36, the male victim, deputies detailed a broader trail of gunfire: shots fired into parked vehicles at the Ellerbe Manor Apartments and into an occupied home on Sallie Goins Hill Road, leading to three counts of attempted murder, discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling, possession of a firearm by a felon, and related property-damage charges. Ratliff was booked into the Richmond County Jail and held without bond as the investigation continued.
In the days that followed, memorial listings confirmed the basic facts of the loss: the name of the victim, Wendell Robinson Jr., age 36, male; the date, August 3, 2025; and the place, Ellerbe, North Carolina. These entries, sparse and matter-of-fact, underscored how swiftly a Sunday morning turned irrevocably violent, while the arrest and charging of a suspect gave the case a defined focus even as the community reckoned with the sudden death.
