Family members say they have received no answers from authorities following the Friday night killing of their relative by a state Highway Patrol trooper.

Family members of James Russell Moore gathered at a relative’s house on Wedgewood Drive outside Roanoke Rapids to speak about the case.

“We have no answers,” said Brian Smith, the 64-year-old Moore’s nephew. “No one has contacted us, the police, the SBI or the hospital.”

The only thing they have confirmed is the trooper, M.W. Pittman, had no camera in his patrol car when he stopped Moore allegedly for drunk driving around 10:30 p.m. on Highway 158, west of Roanoke Rapids.

“We want to know what happened,” Smith said. “We have no answers. We would be grateful. He’s been like a dad to me. He was my hero. He was the epitome of what a man should be.”

Smith is interviewed by a WRAL reporter.

The only details the family knows at this point is what the Highway Patrol has told the media, that Moore was uncooperative with the trooper and pulled a gun from his pocket after demands to get on the ground were allegedly ignored.

“This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. He was basically the leader of our family and now he’s gone. We can’t begin to get closure because we don’t know where to start,” Smith said.

Smith this was the most devastating thing to ever happen to him and he doesn’t believe the story the Highway Patrol is telling. “You would have to show me. In my mind I don’t believe it happened like that.”

As he was interviewed by WRAL in the front yard, many family members held signs seeking justice for Moore.

Smith told the WRAL reporter his uncle, “Didn’t have a violent bone in his body. He was a well-respected man in this community.”

A family member holds a sign.

Moore ran the former Stuckey’s off Highway 46 between Gaston and Garysburg for several years, Smith told WRAL during the interview. He was a friend to law enforcement who would stop by the store, he said.

Smith told rrspin.com the only thing the family can do at this point is keep putting on pressure for answers.

Moore’s son, James Jr., said he last saw his father around 5:30 p.m. Friday. “Everything was fine. He was in good spirits. He was a happy as he could be.”

James Jr. didn’t find out what happened until 2:15 Saturday morning. He has called the State Bureau of Investigation and the only thing the agency would tell him was that they were conducting an investigation.

James Jr. said his father owned a gun and other family members said he carried it for protection when he went to collect rent on houses he owned.

Hugs were exchanged and tears shed.

His son said his father drank socially but was not problem drinker. If anything, family members said, it made him more lighthearted. The gun and his other belongings have not been returned, family members said. The 911 tape of that evening has not been released.

Several family members say they don’t believe he was pointing the weapon at the trooper, that if anything he was preparing to surrender the weapon.

Faye Connor, Moore’s oldest sister said they are a close-knit family which only wants answers to what happened to a beloved relative who would never hurt anyone.

“He would make sure we were all together at holidays,” one relative said. “If we needed money to buy food he would make sure we had it. You could call him for advice. All you had to do was pick up the phone and call him.”