Derick Godwin, a 55-year-old male whose race or ethnicity has not been publicly specified in available reports, was shot while driving along U.S. Highway 64 West near the Lizard Lick Road area of Wake County, close to Wendell, North Carolina, on the morning of Thursday, November 20, 2025. Deputies from the Wake County Sheriff's Office were called around the morning commute and found him in his vehicle with a gunshot wound, reportedly to the head, at about 8:05 a.m. on the busy highway.
He was rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, placed on life support, and despite intensive medical efforts, he later died from those wounds. His family later shared publicly that doctors would be removing him from life support so his organs could be donated, and they described facing funeral, cremation, and other expenses in the aftermath of his killing.
In the immediate days after the shooting, investigators emphasized that they believed the incident to be isolated and that there was no ongoing threat to the wider community. The Sheriff's Office quickly announced that they had identified the suspected shooter, even while initially withholding that person's name from the public as they continued to gather evidence and interview witnesses. Highway 64 in the area near Lizard Lick was shut down for several hours while detectives processed the crime scene, documented bullet impacts, and tried to reconstruct what happened during the encounter on the road. News coverage at the time noted that authorities were examining whether the shooting might have stemmed from a road-rage confrontation between drivers, although officials were careful to say the exact motive remained under investigation.
As the investigation progressed, deputies and assisting agencies moved from identifying a suspect to making an arrest. According to later reports, 24-year-old Ruben Joseph Santiago of Wilson County, who lives on Powell Hooks Road outside Lucama, was arrested and charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of Godwin. The Wilson County Sheriff's Office assisted Wake County authorities in taking Santiago into custody. Court documents and news accounts state that he is accused of firing the shot that struck Godwin while both men were driving on U.S. 64 east of Raleigh on November 20. Santiago has been charged with murder and is being held without bond while the case proceeds through the courts, with his initial appearance before a judge taking place in Raleigh.
Family members have described the killing as a senseless act of violence that occurred while Godwin was simply on his way to work. His sister, Faith Dullaghan, told reporters and the court that she believes the shooting was the result of road rage and spoke about the overwhelming anger and grief she felt when seeing the man accused of killing her brother in court for the first time. She remembered him as a hardworking, compassionate person with an infectious smile and a “silly, comical laugh,” and said she wants to channel her grief into advocacy, including a possible foundation to combat road-rage violence. Community and regional outlets have likewise portrayed the case as a stark reminder of how quickly a dispute on a highway can escalate into deadly gunfire, and they report that the investigation by the Wake County Sheriff's Office into the precise circumstances and motive remains active even as Santiago faces the murder charge.
