New Hanover County jury convicts Uriah Butcher in 2021 Thanksgiving shooting
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A New Hanover County jury has convicted Uriah Butcher of attempted first-degree murder and other charges stemming from a 2021 Thanksgiving Day shooting.
The jury returned guilty verdicts Sept. 8 following a two-week trial.
Butcher was convicted of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and four counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle in operation.
Judge Ricardo Jensen sentenced Butcher to 280 to 360 months, or roughly 23 to 30 years, in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
The charges stem from a Nov. 25, 2021, shooting on Market Street.
According to testimony presented at trial, Quashawn Pearsall and his family were at a clothing store on Market Street on Thanksgiving Day when they encountered Butcher near the store entrance.
Prosecutors said Pearsall and his family left the shopping center and were followed by a vehicle. According to the court release, Butcher obtained a firearm from people in another vehicle and got into the passenger seat of the vehicle following Pearsall’s family.
The family was chased along Market Street, and prosecutors said Butcher began firing between Forest Hills Drive and Kenwood Avenue near the Phoenix Mart.
Crime scene investigators recovered six cartridge casings from the roadway, and the vehicle driven by Pearsall’s family had multiple bullet impacts, according to the court release.
The vehicle was occupied by Pearsall, another family member and a pregnant woman who was driving. The backseat passenger was shot in the back and suffered a bullet fragment injury to the temple, according to the release.
Pearsall was killed the following day, Nov. 26, 2021, at the Bennett Village Apartments in southern New Hanover County.
Butcher was captured on video leaving that scene and entering a neighboring property, where authorities said he stole clothing and changed clothes.
Butcher was previously tried in 2024 in connection with Pearsall’s death and the Thanksgiving Day shooting.
In that trial, the jury convicted Butcher of breaking and entering and larceny after breaking and entering. He was acquitted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder involving Ahmad Tate.
The jury could not reach a verdict on the first-degree murder charge, attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and the four counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle in operation.
Because the jury found Butcher not guilty of conspiring with Ahmad Tate, the murder charge against Butcher was dismissed, according to the court release.
Tate pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in June 2025 in connection with Pearsall’s death. He was sentenced to 59 to 83 months in the Department of Adult Correction.
Ahmad Tate’s charges related to the Thanksgiving Day shooting remain pending in Superior Court. According to the court release, those cases are awaiting a new trial date.
