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WINDSOR – Two men from Northampton County have been arrested for the Oct. 13 murder of an Aulander man.

Timarcus Lavonnte Britt, 25, of Rich Square and 24-year-old Jafari Seven Blythe of Conway are charged with murder in the shooting death of Tony L. Harrell, according to Bertie County Sheriff John Holley.

Harrell, age 32, was shot Oct. 13 while he was traveling north on NC 11 around 4:15 p.m. approximately 1.5 miles north of the J.J. “Monk” Harrington bridge over the Roanoke River.

His vehicle left the roadway, crossed a ditch, and overturned in a cotton field, Holley said, adding that Harrell died at the scene.

In a story published by this newspaper two days after the incident, Sheriff Holley stated another motorist witnessed shots being fired from one vehicle in the direction of another vehicle. Holley added that both vehicles were traveling north on NC 11 in the direction of Lewiston Woodville.

“The eyewitness reported that the shots were fired from a small, white truck – possibly an extended cab or quad cab – with Florida [license] plates,” Holley stated in the story published Oct. 15.

The Sheriff stated that the eyewitness said they didn’t see any type of “road rage” altercation between the two drivers prior to the shots being fired.

Holley said that the ensuing investigation – in which the Bertie Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the North Carolina SBI, the Greenville Police Department, and the Rich Square Police Department, was able to identify Britt and Blythe as suspects. Warrants were obtained for their arrests.

Britt was arrested Oct. 25 in Woodland. Holley said his officers were assisted by the NC SBI, Rich Square and Woodland Police, deputies with the Hertford County Sheriff’s Office and Northampton County Sheriff’s Office, and agents with the Down East Drug Task Force.

The Wake County Sheriff’s Office arrested Blythe in Raleigh on Nov. 8.

Both men are currently being held without the benefit of bond at the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail.

Holley said the motive for the deadly shooting remains under investigation.