A 40-year-old woman was shot in the chest and killed inside a house in Lillington, North Carolina, in the early hours of Sunday, November 1, after a fight broke out at a crowded birthday party, according to the Harnett County Sheriff's Office reporting carried by WNCN (CBS 17). The woman was identified as Justina Hodges, 40, of Lillington.

Source: WNCN (CBS 17), via NewsLocker Raleigh feed, Nov 1, 2026

Deputies went back to the home, on Murchison Lane near Shawtown Road and Cater Lane, at about 4 a.m. for the shooting call — the words 'went back' in the sheriff's office account reflect that deputies had already dealt with the address earlier in the night. They found Hodges inside the home with a gunshot wound, and bystanders were trying to save her life when deputies arrived.

Deputies had already been to the house that night

County dispatch records from the night show deputies had responded to the same Murchison Lane residence earlier on Halloween night for a loud-music and noise complaint at a party of roughly two dozen people; deputies spoke with people at the home and cleared, and the gathering continued into the early morning. Just before 4 a.m., a physical altercation broke out among several people still at the party, and during the fight Hodges was shot in the chest inside the home, according to the dispatch timeline and the sheriff's office account reported by the Johnston County Report, which described the gathering as a birthday party.

Source: The Johnston County Report, Nov 1, 2026

Bystanders held pressure on the wound as medics staged nearby

The shooting call reached county dispatch at 3:59 a.m., initially reported as a fight with at least ten people on scene, and the first caller disconnected after reporting that someone had been shot. As deputies converged, people at the house confirmed a gunshot wound to the chest and said the shooter had already left — with no description and no direction of travel available. Bystanders were controlling the bleeding, and Hodges was conscious and breathing when deputies arrived, according to the dispatch record.

An ambulance was first told to stage nearby until deputies could secure the scene, then cleared in with emergency traffic at about 4:10 a.m., with district fire units and extra medics sent for a penetrating-trauma call. A second woman at the party was treated after she passed out, in what radio traffic described as a possible panic attack. At about 4:16 a.m. the medic crew reported the shooting victim in full traumatic cardiac arrest, and after extended resuscitation efforts at the scene, medics confirmed a time of death shortly after 4:30 a.m., recorded by dispatch at about 4:32 a.m.

What the sheriff's office has not said

Investigators have not released who fired the shot, whether Hodges was involved in the altercation or was struck as it unfolded around her, what kind of firearm was used, or whether the person who fired was a guest at the party. Those points are stated plainly here as open questions, because the sheriff's office has not answered them publicly: what is established is a fight at a house party of more than 20 people, one shot to the chest, a shooter who left before deputies arrived, and a room full of witnesses the investigation now depends on.

Where this happened

Lillington is the county seat of Harnett County, a largely rural county between Raleigh and Fayetteville in central North Carolina, and Murchison Lane is a residential road in the Shawtown Road area on the town's west side. The town sits on U.S. Highway 421, a working regional corridor used daily by local drivers and truck traffic moving between the Raleigh-Durham area and the Fayetteville and Wilmington side of the state — the kind of small-town address where a house party is a neighbourhood event, and where a killing inside a home is felt well beyond one street.

The Lillington killing was one of several shootings at Halloween gatherings across the United States this weekend, including two party shootings in Jacksonville, Florida, that left a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man dead and 11 other people wounded. Read the Jacksonville Halloween party shootings report

What happens next

Deputies started a crime-scene log at the house before dawn on Sunday and the case moved from an emergency response into a formal death investigation. The next steps are interviews with the more than 20 people who were at the party, work to identify the person who fired, and a sheriff's office decision on what can be released once a suspect is named. No one has been charged, so there is no court date yet. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the sheriff's office identifies a suspect or announces an arrest.