The timeline surrounding a fatal shooting at Pitt Greenville Airport last Sunday has come into clearer focus this week as Greenville Police Department investigators continue to work the case.

The initial call came into dispatchers at 5:57 a.m., according to Greenville Police Department records. GPD Capt. Chris Ivey says the shooting occurred in a matter of seconds, with the alleged shooter, John Wesley Reid, immediately fleeing the scene.

The first to arrive on scene was actually a Pitt County Sheriff’s deputy who was inside the airport at the time. Reid was gone by the time the deputy arrived. The sheriff’s office is contracted to provide security for the airport.

“Once we(the GPD) arrived, within just a few minutes, we received a phone call about where the suspect was,” Ivey said. “We responded and took him into custody without incident.”

Officers took Reid into custody at a Speedway gas station located at Memorial and Country Club drives in Greenville. While Reid did not have the small caliber handgun used in the shooting on his person when he was apprehended, Ivey said the firearm was recovered. Reid is charged with first-degree murder.

In addition to the weapon, investigators were also able to recover surveillance footage of the shooting, which occurred outside the main entrance of the airport.

Shot and killed in the incident was Joseph Nelson Pate, 52, of Washington. According to Pate’s obituary, he was employed at the Weyerhaeuser plant in Grifton. Ivey confirmed that Pate and Reid worked together at the lumber company and that the motive for the shooting remains unclear at this point in the investigation. He went on to say that it is unclear if Reid had any history of mental illness, a point that may be determined during court proceedings.

Reid is next scheduled to appear in Pitt County District Court on Jan. 2. According to Pitt County Courthouse staff, that appearance will be a probable cause hearing, at which point a grand jury will determine whether or not Reid will be indicted. He is currently being held in the Pitt County Detention Center on a $2 million secured bond.

A request to Weyerhaeuser’s corporate office seeking comment on the murder was unanswered as of press time Thursday. Attempts to contact the Weyerhaeuser plant in Grifton were unsuccessful due to the plant’s observed holiday hours.