Michael Thomas Harris Jr, 32, of Moyock, is charged with first-degree murder following an arrest in the early hours of Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (Photo courtesy Currituck County Sheriff’s Office)
By Corinne Saunders
Editor’s Note: This story was updated Monday, Dec. 9, to include new information the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office provided on Monday afternoon, as well as information from the victim’s recently released obituary, including a one-letter change in the spelling of the victim’s name. For access to all of Outer Banks Insider’s ad-free local reporting, subscribe at this link.
MOYOCK — A Moyock man is being held with no bond in the Currituck County Detention Center on a first-degree murder charge following his arrest in connection with a fatal shooting in a Moyock subdivision Friday night.
Law enforcement charged Michael Thomas Harris Jr, 32, with first-degree murder, according to a Currituck County Sheriff’s Office media release posted on Facebook Saturday, Dec. 7.
Skyler Benjamin Haislip died from a gunshot wound sustained Friday, Dec. 6, while being transported to a trauma center by Emergency Medical Services, the release said.
Haislip was a 39-year-old Shawboro resident, according to his online obituary.
Currituck County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a home in the 100 block of Wedgewood Drive in the Wedgewood Lakes subdivision around 5:30 p.m. on Friday to investigate a report of a shooting, according to the release.
The subdivision is located off Tulls Creek Road in Moyock.
Deputies identified Haislip as the gunshot victim, and Harris fled the scene on foot, the release said.
“A canvas of the area was initiated, and a canine unit was deployed for a track,” the release said.
The track, along with Criminal Investigation Division intel and phone pings, gave Harris’ location in the 100 block of Willow Drive, and the SWAT team was called in to secure the area, it continued. SWAT team officers arrested Harris around 12:30 a.m. on Saturday.
The incident involved a five-hour “standoff/blockade with Harris,” Chief Deputy Jeff Walker told Outer Banks Insider in a Monday email.
The Currituck County Sheriff’s Office originally posted about the incident just before 7 p.m. on Friday, alerting the public to a shooting investigation and a heavy police presence in the Wedgewood area.
That post was later updated to say that the “barricaded suspect is now in custody.”
Sam Walker of SamWalkerOBXnews.com first reported this story.
Law enforcement does not have “the extent of their relationship” between Harris and Haislip, other than they are not family nor related, Jeff Walker said in his Monday email.
The incident remains under investigation.
“All other parties involved are still part of the ongoing investigation for any future charges,” Jeff Walker said.
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