A migrant worker was shot and killed during a struggle Friday night during a home robbery on Oakview Trail in Elizabethtown, Bladen County Sheriff James McVicker said.
Oakview Trail is about three miles north of downtown Elizabethtown off Willard Tatum Road on the way to White Lake via U.S. 701.
Leonardo Zongua, 33, was shot at least twice during the robbery, McVicker said. He was taken to Bladen County Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The incident began about 9:30 p.m. Friday when six people were outside of their rented mobile home and were approached by “several black males described as being in their late teens to early 20s,” McVicker said. The five men and one woman had arrived in the county this week to pick blueberries, the Sheriff said.
“The workers were all outside in their yard when a group of men approached them and asked if they wanted to buy some marijuana,” McVicker said in a news release. “When the workers declined, the men pulled guns and made everyone get on the ground and proceeded to rob them. Two of the victims were made to go into the house while the robbers searched it.”
McVicker said at some point one of the workers attempted to resist during the search and began struggling with a man armed with a rifle. When another worker joined the fight, several shots were fired and Zongua was shot at least two times.
“(The workers) were here for the (blueberry) season and probably would have moved on up the coast following the harvest in a few weeks.” McVicker said.
Anyone with any information about the robbery and shooting is asked to contact the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office at 910-862-6960.
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