LUMBERTON — A 27-year-old Lumberton man is in jail after being charged with the Tuesday morning murder of an off-duty Lumberton police officer.
Marques Ramon Brown, who also goes by the first name of Marcus, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of 33-year-old Master Police Officer Jeremiah Goodson. Brown has listed addresses at 207 Laurel Court and 409 Beech Court, both in Turner Terrace on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
Goodson is the first Lumberton police officer to be killed while on duty in 76 years.
Brown was brought to the Robeson County Courthouse by agents of the State Bureau of Investigation at about 7 p.m.Tuesday, according to jail records. He is now at the Cumberland County jail.
Goodson was shot at about 11 a.m. at the Xpress Depot, at 5030 Fayetteville Road, while serving a warrant for Brown’s arrest. Goodson, who was off-duty, had recognized Brown, who was sitting in a vehicle, and called for backup. As Goodson and the assisting officer approached the vehicle, Brown opened fire, hitting Goodson more than once. It is unclear how many times Goodson was hit.
The assisting officer held Brown at gunpoint until another officer arrived and he was taken in custody, according to police Capt. Johnny Barnes
Brown was wanted for two charges of failure to appear in court — one for possession of a firearm by a felon and one for carrying a concealed weapon.
Brown also had outstanding warrants in Columbus County for receiving stolen property and obstructing an officer. According to the Columbus County clerk of court, charges are pending for a 2011 assault on a government official.
Barnes said the investigation has been turned over to the State Bureau of Investigation, and he expected additional charges.
Brown’s incarceration history dates back to 2003 at the Robeson County jail and includes time served for several probation violations and for possession of stolen goods, breaking and entering with larceny, possession of a firearm by a felon, contempt of court, breaking into a motor vehicle and larceny of a motor vehicle.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon at the site of the murder, Chief Mike McNeill said he wasn’t ready to disclose details regarding the shooting. McNeill could not be reached this morning.
“All I can tell you right now is that, we did have an officer shot and killed, Officer Jeremiah Goodson,” McNeill said. “I cannot even tell you about the further investigation right now because the SBI is leading this investigation with the Lumberton Police Department. You see us still here; we’re going to support them in any way we can on getting down to the full investigation of this officer getting shot.”
Goodson’s wife is pregnant with their second child.
“She’s holding on. The family’s holding good,” McNeill said.
McNeill said that an officer’s job doesn’t stop when he goes off duty.
“When you become a police officer, you’re 24/7,” he said. “We have things in place that when you do happen to see something outside the time that you’re working, we do have things in place that you call other officers.
Goodson had been employed with the Lumberton Police Department since June 14, 2006, according to James Moore, Human Resources director for the city. He drove patrol car No. 45. Goodson worked as a resource officer for Lumberton High School while serving in the Juvenile Division in 2010.
Many tributes were being posted on Facebook on Tuesday and early today. Condolences for Goodson’s family can also be found at odmp.org, where memorials are posted for fallen officers.
According to the website, the last time a Lumberton police officer was killed was on Nov. 18, 1936, when Chief Vance R. McGill was accidentally shot and killed when a pistol he was examining discharged. The last Robeson County lawman to die in the line of duty was Arthur Oxendine, a sheriff’s detective who died in a wreck on Oct. 1, 1993.
Karen Higley, head of the community watch for East Lumberton, is asking that American flags fly at half mast until Goodson’s funeral.
God doesn't want us to kill that murder He wants us to forgive him and share Jesus with him so that he can have eternal life with Jesus :) have a blessed day and keep this nation and everyone in your prayers .. let's show the world Jesus .. from thug to business man we all need Jesus
Kudos to the robesonian in reporting. Put the pic of the scum off his Facebook page back up so that as many young people as possible can see the face of Satan. And why was a felon living in public housing? I thought this was prohibited? If not then it certainly should be. He lists his employer on this page as himself. Guess that's pushing stolen stuff and drugs.
This whole tragic story presents the dichotomy we are seeing now in society with the intentional destruction of the family. On the one hand you have an exemplary man, protector, father, husband, friend, and a paragon. On the other hand, same type of man, yet this one spits on everything good. Willing to bet he has no idea who his sperm donor was, and no idea of education or real work, thanks to liberal society as created by Johnson. God has been run out of schools, shacking is the norm and is taxpayer supported, and the youth are fed into the thug machine called popular culture and social programs.
Sit at home this fall and don't vote, or even worse, go vote for a democrat and watch what is left of this country continue to die a slow death. There are more Browns mow than Goodsons, literally, and unless you personally are pArt do the solution, you ARE the problem. And apologies to Mr Douglas, you are a fine editor. Please keep us all informed on fundraisers for this family.
Again I've read and agreed with some of what your beliefs are but to make this about Democratic ideals is as wrong as it would be to make the tragedy in Colorado about Republican or Tea Party ideals. After all, as an NRA member myself, I'm well aware that the Republican and Tea parties are much more staunch supporters of the 2nd Amendment right of you and me and that lunatic to buy and possess the weapons and ammunition needed to carry out such a cowardly deranged act than are most moderate or liberal Democrats. This in no way though should be put forth by anyone as the cause for these murders. While I'll defend your your right to have your own beliefs no matter how close to mine or how far apart, I submit for your consideration that no single group in America or the world for that matter has a monopoly on right or wrong or about morality. All groups are comprised of both kinds of people. Does my group have a 10 to 1 good to bad ratio while yours has an 11 to one good to bad, only an all knowing merciful God can say for sure and He hasn't told me whether He is a Republican or a Democrat so I think I'll hold off on sweeping generalities. As I've followed this tragic Hero's death on these comments I believe that the compassionate comments are coming from all races of Robesonians as well as from all faiths and this can be his greatest legacy if we can use our commonalities to unify us rather than using our differences to further drive us apart. Just a thought.
With Love from your fellow brother,
Deputy Eric Chavis
Roberson County Sheriff's Office
Terrylock,
Actually, we broke the story about 12:30 yesterday, had it on website first and updates throughout sday. The photo that WRAL and many news organizations used of Goodson came from us with our permission. We were way ahead of everyone in reporting this story. The information about who did it was released late last night, and we don't publish until this afternoon. Can't help the timing of that.
Donnie Douglas
Editor
The Robesonian
If, as your handle implies, you have served our country then accept my appreciation for said service. However, please don't try to associate this with a President who has ordered the killing of more US enemies in the last 3 years than had been killed in the previous 8 years, with Bin Laden being the most important. I fully support Capital punishment for heinous crimes such as this and could sleep like a baby that night if I was allowed to push the button on this animal. I also choose to support at least some of what the Obama administration has done or has tried to do so please reconsider making sweeping associations. Just a thought.
WHY is this multiple felon even out of jail to kill? These sorry azzed judges involved in these convictions have this good mans blood on their hands.
Please people, go to the polls and vote to kick out every sitting judge except Richardson. He is tough on crime. The rest are jokes, and can almost be considered defector accessories to murder. It's them who unleash this human scum back on the streets to terrorize us all. Let's see if Mr Douglas will print this little piece of truth
I see it all the time in jury trials where jurys let criminals get life instead of death and then complain about the murders in the county.
But youre right there hasnt been a death sentence handed out by a jury in this county in over 30 years so yes youre right he probably only will get life.................