RALEIGH, N.C. — Hundreds of officers and deputies from across North Carolina lined a North Raleigh church parking lot Friday, standing at attention and saluting as the body of slain Wake County Sheriff's Office Deputy Ned Byrd arrived for his funeral.
Byrd, 48, died the night of Aug. 11, shot and killed on a sparsely populated road in southern Wake County. After a weeklong investigation, one man is in Wake County jail, charged with murder. Another remains in federal custody in Forsyth County, but the Wake district attorney expects to charge him in the killing as well.
“On that night, when I got to the scene, kneeled down beside him, promised him that we will find those responsible for what happened to him that night,” Sheriff Gerald Baker said at the funeral, with Byrd's casket draped in an American flag and a brown jiu jitsu belt before him.
“Ned was committed to serving this county,” he said. “It didn’t matter what the hours were, it didn’t matter what the assignment was.”
Police shut down Glenwood Avenue in North Raleigh as a procession brought Byrd’s body to Providence Baptist Church. Dozens of officers on motorcycles and a single officer walking the fallen deputy’s K9 partner Sasha led the horse-drawn caisson to the funeral.
Friends and family remembered Byrd for his loyalty, generosity and strength, mental and physical. He was remembered for being proud of his work, and his love of jiu jitsu, mountain biking and CrossFit.
“Ned was the kind of man who made a friend everywhere, whether you wanted him to be or not,” Byrd’s cousin Elina Pereira said at the funeral.
“So many people here have biked, gone on a run, did a bunch of situps or pushups, or rolled around on a jiu jitsu mat because of him,” she said. “Whether you wanted to or not.”
“Nothing seems the same,” Pereira said. But she said the Wake County Sheriff’s Office has surrounded them with support. “I did not know a heart could be torn in two and still be so full at one time.”
Other state and county officials joined the family and the hundreds of officers for the funeral Friday.
The governor said he met with Byrd’s sister Friday morning to present her with a flag that flew above the State Capitol and she asked him to speak at the funeral.
“I cannot imagine the trauma, the shock, the anger, the heartbreak that you all feel,” Gov. Roy Cooper said at the funeral. “And that is felt by so many people who met him and is generally felt by so many North Carolinians who didn’t know him.”
“They are also mourning for law enforcement all across the state,” Cooper said. “It has never ever been harder to be a law enforcement officer right now.”
He pledged to support law enforcement and work to get officers and deputies more training, better equipment and benefits.
Arturo Marin-Sotelo, 29, of Apex, is charged with murder in Byrd’s death. At his first court appearance Thursday, a judge warned Marin-Sotelo that the charges, if he’s convicted, could mean life in prison or the death penalty.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said a second man is in federal custody in Forsyth County and will also be charged with murder in Byrd’s death. She said her office would consider whether to pursue the death penalty in the case.
This is the second funeral for a deputy in North Carolina in two weeks. On Aug. 1, Wayne County Sgt. Matthew Fishman and two other deputies were shot while serving involuntary commitment papers. Fishman died from his injuries the next day.
For the second time this month, a final radio call went out for a deputy killed in the line of duty in North Carolina.
“Wake 397. Wake 397." Two tones sounded over the radio. "Wake all units, K9 Deputy Ned Byrd is 10-42 for the final time. It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of Deputy Byrd, a true public servant."
“It is my honor on behalf of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and the citizens of Wake County to thank you, sir, for your service and your ultimate sacrifice. Your presence within the Wake County Sheriff’s Office shall never be forgotten. May God bless and watch over your family, blood and blue, and may your soul rest in eternal peace."
“Wake all units: 397, K9 Deputy Ned Byrd, is 10-42. End of watch, Aug. 11, 2022.”