ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — A fatal shooting last summer is facing renewed scrutiny after questions surfaced about why the juvenile involved wasn’t charged.
District Attorney Todd Williams broke the case down for 828newsNOW.
The shooting happened about 7:58 p.m. on June 24, 2024, at an apartment complex on Livingston Street. Williams said it started as an argument between neighbors. The woman — Ashley Ryan Waddell — was in an apartment and Ashley Dixon was outside.
Williams said Waddell was armed with a handgun and a baseball bat when she went out to confront Dixon. She fired a round into the air and then began hitting Dixon with the bat, the district attorney said.
(Photo from Buncombe County Detention Facility)
A juvenile armed with a semi-automatic rifle fired one round at Waddell during her assault on Dixon, Williams said. The woman’s son, 23-year-old Isaiah Rayshawn Waddell, then fired a gun at the juvenile.
“He fired multiple times. Bullets struck the juvenile multiple times, including one that hit him in the back of his upper shoulder and neck area,” Williams said. “Miraculously, he lived.”
Ashley Waddell, 40, died.
The charges
Isaiah Waddell was booked into Buncombe County Detention Facility, where he was charged with attempted first-degree murder, discharging a weapon into an occupied property and discharging a firearm in city limits.
Late last year, he pleaded guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter.
The juvenile was not charged in the death of Ashley Waddell because he acted in self-defense of another person, Williams said.
“Ashley Waddell was seen armed with a baseball bat and gun on surveillance video and was swinging the bat at another man at the time she was fatally shot. The juvenile who shot Waddell was not criminally charged because the juvenile’s actions were justified under N.C. self-defense laws,” Williams said in a news release.
During a discussion about the case, Williams said, “We applied the law to the facts.”
But that application of law left some wondering why the son wasn’t afforded the same self-defense distinction.
Waddell’s son was charged because he acted in retaliation, Williams said.
“He fired multiple times in quick succession,” Williams said.
The District Attorney’s Office issued the following statement:
“The statute requires that the person who uses deadly force must reasonably believe that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another at the time the deadly force is used. At the time Isaiah Waddell discharged his weapon, evidence showed that the juvenile had begun to flee from the scene. Evidence showed that Isaiah Waddell fired multiple shots at the juvenile who had previously shot Ashley Waddell in defense of another during the fight. Evidence showed that the juvenile was struck in his upper back in and around his neck and shoulder area by a bullet fired by Isaiah Waddell as he ran away. Fortunately, the juvenile was neither killed nor more seriously injured. Investigators recovered bullets fired by Isaiah Waddell from within a nearby dwelling. There was no evidence showing that at the time Isaiah Waddell discharged his weapon that the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to either himself or another person. These facts provided the factual basis for Isaiah Waddell’s guilty pleas to felony attempted voluntary manslaughter and felony discharging a firearm into occupied property. Both pleas were accepted and judgments were entered by Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Grant on Oct. 24, 2024.”
Isaiah Waddell was convicted of felony attempted voluntary manslaughter and felony discharging a firearm into occupied property on Oct. 24, 2024 in Buncombe County Superior Court. He was sentenced to serve two 20-36 month terms of imprisonment. Those sentences were suspended and he was placed on supervised probation for 24 months.
The juvenile victim and his family were consulted, supported the plea negotiation and approved the suspended sentences, Williams said.
“Though the evidence clearly supported Waddell’s convictions, this office agreed to a probationary plea cognizant that Waddell had witnessed the traumatic shooting death of his mother just moments before he retaliated against the victim,” Williams said in the news release.
MAN CHARGED IN MULTI-SHOOTER INCIDENT THAT LEFT 1 DEAD, 3 INJURED IN ASHEVILLE