LUMBERTON, N.C. (WBTW) - A fundraiser started on gofundme.com for the family of a woman senselessly killed in a road rage shooting on I-95 has raised more than $34,000 as of Sunday.
"Julie was a beautiful, loving, generous, and giving person," Susan Eberly, the organizer of the fund wrote. "We will be using the funds to help others and to give to the organizations that were close to her heart."
A $10,000 reward also has been offered by a Robeson County resident who wants to remain anonymous for any information leading to the arrest of a suspect(s).
47-year-old Julie Eberly, of Manheim, Pa., was shot at about 11:15 a.m. on Thursday in the area near the weight station just north of Lumberton. She died at a hospital shortly after that. A passenger in the car with her was not injured.
Robeson County deputies said the shooting stemmed from a road rage incident in which the vehicle Julie was in came too close to the suspect’s vehicle while trying to merge into a lane. The suspect's vehicle pulled up to the passenger side of the vehicle and fired shots into the passenger door, hitting Julie.
The sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help to find a mid-2000’s model silver or grey Malibu or Impala that witnesses said was involved in the shooting. The car has dark tinted windows and chrome around the window frame. It was last seen driving south on I-95 toward exit 22.
“We want to find the coward that has caused this tragedy and we need the help of citizens in this county,” Sheriff Burnis Wilkins pleaded. “If this is a local person, someone knows who this is without a thought. Someone knows the coward that drives a car as described and knows the person to carry a firearm. Who is it? Who can sleep knowing they did this?”
“Thankfully they had left their six children at home with grandparents, but now these kids have to live with the thought of their mother being murdered in such a cowardly and senseless way,” Wilkins said.
Family members said Eberly and her husband celebrated their 7th wedding anniversary Wednesday and were headed to Hilton Head Island.
"We are thankful for the outpouring of love and prayers from the Lumberton and Manheim/Lancaster Communities," the gofundme page reads. "May Julie’s death not be in vain and may her memory live on by the giving in her name."
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