A Wilmington man has been sentenced to serve between 23 and 30 years in state prison following his conviction for a violent highway shooting that terrorized a family on Thanksgiving Day in 2021. The New Hanover County District Attorney’s Office announced the conclusion of the case, marking a significant development in a multi-year legal saga stemming from consecutive days of gunfire in the Wilmington area.
The defendant, Uriah Butcher, was formally found guilty by a New Hanover County jury on September 8. Jurors convicted him on an array of violent felony offenses, including attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.
In addition to those primary charges, the jury found Butcher guilty on four separate counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle in operation. Following the delivery of the guilty verdicts, the court handed down the active prison sentence of 23 to 30 years, ensuring substantial incarceration for the Thanksgiving roadway ambush.
According to details provided in a news release from the district attorney's office, the hazardous sequence of events unfolded on November 25, 2021. Butcher, who was armed with a firearm, occupied the passenger seat of an automobile that engaged in an aggressive pursuit of another vehicle along Market Street in Wilmington.
The vehicle under pursuit was carrying Quashawn Pearsall along with several members of his family. As the chase continued through the roadway corridor, Butcher leaned out and repeatedly discharged his weapon directly at the occupied family car.
Prosecutors emphasized the acute danger posed to the occupants of the fleeing automobile, which was being driven by a pregnant woman. The gunfire tore into the passenger compartment, placing everyone inside in severe jeopardy as bullets struck the moving vehicle.
A passenger seated in the back of the car sustained grave physical trauma during the barrage. The victim suffered an active gunshot wound to the back, while an additional bullet fragment penetrated the skull area and became lodged inside the person's temple as the shooting occurred.
Crime scene investigators with local law enforcement documented substantial physical evidence along the roadway following the attack. Forensics teams recovered six spent cartridge casings from the surface of Market Street, while subsequent examinations confirmed that the vehicle driven by Pearsall's family had sustained extensive damage from multiple bullet impacts.
The holiday roadway violence served as a prelude to further bloodshed the very next day. On November 26, 2021, Pearsall was shot and killed at the Bennett Village Apartments, a residential community situated in southern New Hanover County.
Investigators reviewing surveillance footage from the apartment complex identified Butcher on video fleeing the area shortly after the fatal shooting took place. Consequently, authorities initiated broader homicide and assault cases against multiple participants in the two-day surge of violence.
Butcher and an associate, Ahmad Tate, were subsequently charged in connection with Pearsall's murder at the apartment complex. At the same time, Butcher and a third individual, Ahdon Tate, faced prosecution for the initial Thanksgiving Day pursuit and shooting on Market Street.
The case followed a complicated procedural path through the North Carolina court system, beginning with an initial joint trial for Butcher in 2024. During those proceedings, Butcher was tried concurrently for the Thanksgiving Day shooting and the subsequent homicide of Pearsall.
The 2024 jury reached a mixed conclusion, finding Butcher guilty of breaking and entering along with larceny after breaking and entering, while returning a verdict of not guilty on the charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder with Ahmad Tate. However, the panel deadlocked on all other major counts, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy, assault with a deadly weapon, and the four vehicle-shooting charges.
Because the initial jury acquitted Butcher of conspiring with Ahmad Tate, the underlying first-degree murder indictment against Butcher was subsequently dismissed, clearing the way for the district attorney's office to retry him specifically on the unresolved attempted murder and holiday shooting charges.
Other individuals tied to the November 2021 incidents have also faced court action over the past year. On June 23, 2025, co-defendant Ahmad Tate resolved his case by pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Pearsall, receiving a prison term of 5 to 7 years.
Meanwhile, the legal proceedings against Ahdon Tate regarding the Thanksgiving Day car chase remain ongoing. The district attorney's office indicated that Ahdon Tate’s charges remain pending in New Hanover County Superior Court as the state awaits a newly scheduled trial date.
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