Police said another man was wounded and, as of April 14, no suspect had been publicly named in the April 2 shooting.
PLYMOUTH, N.C. — A 36-year-old father was shot to death while holding his 8-month-old child in a vehicle outside his home before dawn April 2, and investigators had not announced an arrest nearly two weeks later.
Police identified the dead man as Devonelle Brimage, a Plymouth resident whose family later said he used his body to protect the baby during the burst of gunfire. The case drew wide attention because an infant and another adult survived the same attack, and because loved ones said Brimage was the father of 11 children. The Plymouth Police Department said the killing remains under investigation with help from the State Bureau of Investigation and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, but officers have not publicly named a suspect or described a motive.
Police said the shooting happened at about 1:30 a.m. on April 2 on Latham Avenue. Officers responding to reports of gunfire found Brimage in a vehicle outside the home where police said he lived. He was unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds, and emergency crews pronounced him dead at the scene. A second man, Avione Linquad Webb, 38, was found wounded in the rear seat of the same vehicle. An 8-month-old child also was inside. Police Chief Louis Banks later said Brimage was the child’s father and that the baby’s mother told investigators Brimage had been holding the child when he was shot. In the first public accounts, authorities kept the description narrow: a parked vehicle, multiple gunshot victims and an infant caught in the middle of the violence. That basic outline has not changed, even as the emotional weight of the case has grown in the days since the shooting.
Authorities said Webb and the infant were taken to Washington Regional Medical Center, and Webb was later transferred to ECU Health Medical Center in Greenville for more treatment. Police said the child suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was released. Public reports have not described Webb’s longer-term condition in detail. They also have not answered several central questions, including who opened fire, why the vehicle was targeted or whether investigators believe the shooting was personal, random or a case of mistaken identity. Police have not publicly said how many shots were fired, whether a suspect vehicle was seen leaving the area or whether video, shell casings or witness statements have narrowed the inquiry. WCTI reported that one nearby resident, who asked not to be identified, said the gunfire sounded “like we were in a war zone,” a description that matched the shock neighbors described after the shots and the quick arrival of police cars on the street.
As the investigation stayed quiet, Brimage’s family filled in the portrait that police bulletins could not. A GoFundMe created to help cover funeral expenses said he was the father of 11 children and was survived by 11 siblings. The fundraiser said that “in his final moments” he used his body to shield and protect his 8-month-old baby, calling the act evidence that he was “selfless, protective, and full of love for his family.” In a later WITN interview, Brimage’s fiancée, Michelle Jackson, said fatherhood was central to his life and that “not a day that went by” that he did not see their son. His sister, Franlena Brimage, said he “would do whatever he needed to do for anybody” and was the kind of person who would “give you the shirt off his back.” Those accounts do not resolve the crime, but they explain why the killing has spread beyond a local police story into a broader account of loss, memory and a final act relatives see as protective.
The shooting landed in a town where residents already had been talking about violence. WCTI reported that some Plymouth residents said the case deepened fears after another recent fatal incident involving a Washington County High School student. In that setting, the image of a father dying while trying to cover an infant turned the case into more than one homicide in a small eastern North Carolina community. It became, for some residents, a measure of whether authorities could quickly explain what happened and restore a sense of order. Even so, officials have been restrained in public. Police have not offered a narrative of what led up to the shooting, have not said whether Brimage or Webb had been threatened beforehand and have not publicly described whether the child was struck by gunfire or injured by debris. The known facts remain stark and limited: shots fired outside a home, one man dead, one wounded survivor and a baby who lived.
Procedurally, the case still appears to be in its earliest public phase. The Plymouth Police Department said from the start that the SBI and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office were assisting, a sign that local investigators were seeking outside support for interviews, evidence review and forensic work. No arrest warrant, criminal charge or court hearing tied to the shooting had been publicly announced in the reports available by April 14. That means the next official step is likely to come from investigators rather than a courtroom: the naming of a suspect, the filing of charges, the release of a motive or a fuller timeline of who was in and around the vehicle before the shots were fired. Until then, the public record is limited to the death at the scene, the hospitalization of Webb, the infant’s release and repeated statements that the investigation continues.
Family members have described the days since the shooting as a split between grief and waiting. Jackson told WITN that many of her memories of Brimage are tied to their son and “the family he was trying to build.” Franlena Brimage said the family was still processing the loss and struggling with the question of who would want to hurt her brother. Their comments have not accused anyone, but they have made clear that the absence of an arrest has added to the pain. A fundraiser launched after the shooting sought help with funeral and burial costs and support for the children Brimage left behind. In Plymouth, the case also left a scene that neighbors said was hard to forget: a driveway, a bullet-struck vehicle, flashing patrol cars and an infant carried away alive. For relatives, the story now moves on two tracks at once, one measured by evidence and silence, the other by remembrance and the burden of explaining a father’s death to the children he leaves behind.
As of April 14, the killing remained unsolved in public view. The next milestone is expected to come when investigators announce a suspect, make an arrest or release a fuller account of what happened on Latham Avenue before dawn on April 2.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.