Bryan Arellano Ponce, 19, of Asheboro, North Carolina, was fatally shot Monday evening, October 12, inside a vehicle on Spinks Road, east of Asheboro, according to the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office. Detectives have identified a person of interest in the case, but no arrest has been announced.
What Happened
Deputies were dispatched to the area of Spinks Road at approximately 6:24 p.m. Monday after receiving a report of an unconscious person inside a vehicle. While en route, deputies learned the victim had been shot and that fire responders were already on scene performing life-saving measures.
Despite those efforts, Ponce was pronounced dead at the scene. The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office said detectives are actively investigating the shooting as a homicide. Officials have not released the identity of the person of interest, disclosed a possible motive, or provided further details about what happened before Ponce was found.
Remembering Bryan
Ponce’s family described him as a young entrepreneur who had been building a reselling business, buying and selling clothes and shoes on social media, and was just beginning to see it take off.
“He was just trying to grow his business, and what happened to him was very unfortunate,” said his aunt, Fabiola Arellano. “He was trying to be somebody. He was an entrepreneur,” added his uncle, Juan Carlos Ponce Zagada.
Zagada described the moment he learned of his nephew’s death: “They called me and told me about it, and I didn’t believe it, so I called him, and he said, ‘They killed my son, man,’ and I was like, ‘Where you at, man?'”
“To this day, it’s still kind of like a shock. We still can’t believe that this is happening. It feels like a dream, feels like a nightmare,” Arellano said.
Family members remembered Ponce as someone who worked to keep the people around him feeling loved and uplifted. “We’ll gather everybody, and everybody had to say something nice about each other, and every time he was feeling down, he would come to me and be like, ‘Let’s do the circle of love,'” Arellano said.
“He would always show up with a big smile on his face, and he’d be like, ‘I’m here.’ I don’t know why; I just keep thinking he’s going to show up here,” Zagada said.
“Bryan lit up the room. As soon as he walked into a room, it’s like the room lit up, and it’s like, ‘Okay, the party is here.’ That was our Bryan. Everybody loved Bryan,” Arellano said.
Ponce was an older brother to his younger sister and leaves behind several cousins the family said he considered siblings.
How to Help
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to support Ponce’s family.
What’s Next
The investigation remains active. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office.
