Pembroke, North Carolina

From the Lumberton Robesonian of December 28, 2006

Woman claims self-defense in Christmas Day shooting death

Dixie Oxendine said when her ex-boyfriend, Ertle Ray Bell Jr., approached her carrying a rifle she knew that he planned to make good on his threat to kill her.

Oxendine said Bell already tried to run her off the road in April.

The 38-year-old woman, who had purchased a pistol right before Christmas, got out of her car and shut her eyes.

"I just closed my eyes and started shooting," she said. "I was scared he was going to shoot and kill me."

Bell, 24, of 56 Nancy Lane, Pembroke, was shot once in the head and four more times in the upper torso, sheriff's Detective Lt. Ricky Britt said.

After Oxendine shot Bell, she called the Pembroke Police Department. When officers arrived, she turned over her handgun and explained what had happened. Bell was pronounced dead at the scene. Britt said Bell's SKS rifle was found near his body.

"I was scared and that's all I knew to do," she said in an interview from her home on Tuesday.

The shooting occurred Christmas Day at 4:45 p.m. on Danielle Drive in the Pine Lake Park subdivision off Deep Branch Road.

No charges have been filed.

"It's a domestic dispute and (District Attorney) Johnson Britt has to review the case," Ricky Britt said.

Oxendine, a Robesonian newspaper carrier, said she and her nephew, Michael Brandon Dial, were delivering newspapers when Bell used his car to block her truck.

"He came to the truck and told me to get out," she said. "He said he had to talk to me."

Oxendine said she got out and asked him what he wanted. She said Bell was carrying rifle.

"He told me to get in his truck - I was coming with him," Oxendine said. "I said ‘no.' "

Oxendine described the relationship, which lasted from January to early March, as tumultuous. She said things got worse when the two broke up.

Oxendine said Bell had called her house and threatened to kill her last Wednesday. She said the next day, he had approached her while she was on her paper route, but he didn't ask her to get out of the truck and Oxendine drove away.

She said she planned to take out papers on him after the holidays and had purchased a pistol for protection until then.