Lance Martin Herald Senior Staff Writer

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A man police describe as a suspected Halifax County drug dealer was gunned down outside Whitakers Thursday night.

Travis Ussery, 36, was found shot to death in a brown Nissan Maxima on Speight's Chapel Road near Gethsemane outside Whitakers.

Ussery died in what is being described as a drug deal gone bad, Lt. Gary Brady of the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office said.

In a press release, the sheriff's office said it received a call around 9:24 p.m. that a vehicle was in the ditch and the driver was deceased.

A second person in the vehicle was unharmed, the sheriff's office said.

During the initial investigation, it was learned Ussery and the unnamed passenger met with three unnamed Hispanic men, who were traveling in a medium blue Ford Expedition, behind a vacant house.

Brady said this was apparently the meeting place for the drug deal. He said as soon as the Maxima arrived, the suspects fired multiple shots from the Expedition.

The Maxima circled around the residence and drove approximately a quarter of a mile before running into a ditch. The suspects fled the scene in the Expedition, which had 20-inch chrome rims. The suspects are considered armed and dangerous.

Brady said the sheriff's office had no dealings with Ussery in the past and that it appears the location was picked by the parties involved. “It appears it was a dropping off point and the deal went bad.”

Ussery, who is from Roanoke Rapids, was considered a large-scale drug dealer in the area, Lt. Jay Burch, of the Halifax County Sheriff's Office, said Friday. “He was doing fairly well for himself.”

One person arrested in the Guess Who's Next? undercover drug sting was taken into custody at Ussery's residence in the Southgate community, Lt. Ron Baird of the Roanoke Rapids Police Department said.

Roanoke Rapids has not been called to assist in the investigation, he said.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office at (252) 641-7911.