Raleigh police seize gun, drugs after Oberlin Road shooting, crash

Raleigh police tied together gunfire, a domestic dispute, impaired driving and a hit-and-run crash in one case that began with a shots-fired call on April 22 and spilled onto one of the city’s busiest corridors.

Officers said the incident started during a domestic dispute inside a car. After the gunfire, the suspect fled, later crashed in another part of Raleigh and then ran again, turning what began as a shooting complaint into a wider public-safety investigation. Police seized a gun, cocaine, heroin, MDMA pills, cash and cell phones as part of the case.

Investigators identified the suspect as Demetrius Shamel Woodruff, 38, of Greenville, South Carolina. Police said the DWI crash happened in the 1900 block of Oberlin Road near Fairview Road and damaged a Duke Energy pole, adding utility damage to the list of alleged offenses. An arrest warrant also said there was an open bottle of Don Julio tequila in the back seat of the car.

Woodruff was charged with driving while impaired, hit and run leaving the scene of property damage, open container inside a vehicle after consuming alcohol, no operator’s license and a center lane violation. Police said he was the only person charged so far, and the case remained open, leaving room for additional arrests as investigators continue sorting out the shooting, the crash and the contraband recovered at the scene.

The sequence on Oberlin Road showed how quickly a domestic conflict can turn into a broader threat for drivers and neighbors when guns, drugs and a vehicle are all involved. A crash that damaged a utility pole also raised the stakes for anyone traveling through the area, where a split-second loss of control can cut power, block traffic and complicate police response.

The corridor has also drawn attention for other recent Raleigh police activity, including a reported bank robbery in the same stretch, underscoring how often Oberlin Road lands in the center of public-safety calls. Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce also held a news conference on April 21 about ongoing violent-crime efforts, pointing to recent crime trends even as high-profile incidents like this one kept pressure on the department to show results.

Raleigh police have public records procedures for crash and incident reports, which could add more detail as the investigation develops. For now, the case stands as a stark example of how one encounter on a familiar Raleigh roadway can quickly spiral into a gun, drugs, impaired driving and hit-and-run investigation all at once.