Antonio Cooley, 49, a man from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was shot in the early hours of Monday, January 5, 2026, after police were called to the 300 block of Sunset Avenue for reports of gunfire. When officers arrived, they found him suffering from gunshot wounds, and first responders immediately tried life-saving measures at the scene before rushing him to a local hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
In the first hours after the shooting, information was scarce, and police said they had no suspect details available while they worked the case and appealed to the public for help. Tip information was shared for anyone who might have seen or heard something along Sunset Avenue that night, a sign that investigators were still piecing together what happened in the moments leading up to the gunfire.
Later that same day, Rocky Mount police announced a significant break: detectives identified a suspect and charged 64-year-old John Shellington with first-degree murder in connection with Cooley’s death. The charge marked the case as a homicide investigation from the start, and it indicated investigators believed they had enough evidence, even in the earliest stage, to name a person responsible for the killing.
Beyond the murder charge, authorities did not release additional details about what sparked the confrontation, whether the men knew each other, or what evidence led to the arrest, emphasizing only that the investigation remained ongoing. As of the public updates available, the case narrative ends with a life cut short on Sunset Avenue and a suspect in custody facing a first-degree murder charge, while detectives continue working to fill in the unanswered parts of the story.
