Man arrested in Jones County shooting death

TRENTON – The death of a Jones County man on Thursday is now being called a murder, and a 52-year-old Jacksonville man is behind bars charged with the shooting.

Dennis Sherwood Lewis of 300 Rivers Edge, Jacksonville, was in Jones County Jail late Tuesday, according to a Jones County Sheriff’s Office news release. He faces an open count of murder.

Lewis is charged in the shooting death of Edward Earl Bell III, who was found outside his home at 3421 Highway 58 South, reportedly with a bullet wound in the head.

Bell, 62, a member of a prominent Jones County family and part owner of Bell Family Farms, was memorialized on Monday.

The release said that the 7:10 p.m. Tuesday arrest was made with assistance from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office.

Onslow County Sheriff’s Office charged Lewis with filing a false police report, the release said, then Lewis was placed in Jones County Jail under no bond.

Lewis’ first appearance will be in Jones County Superior Court at 9 a.m. Friday.

Jones County Sheriff will hold a press conference at a later date.