Men charged with ambush of informant remain in jail

ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. — Three Alexander County men will remain behind bars on charges of executing a well-planned ambush on a confidential informant.

William Elder, Michael Little and Joshua Smith all consented at hearings Thursday morning to remaining in jail.

READ MORE: Documents: Trio ambushed informant to claim bounty

A criminal complaint filed Sept. 3 charged the trio with luring the confidential informant to a home while there was a $20,000 reward out for his murder.

The shooting was reported on the night of Aug. 29 on Pine Tree Road.

Residents reported hearing a flurry of bullets as many were sitting down for dinner.

"I heard 'pop, pop, pop,'" Greg Bilancil said.

"It was very scary, very scary," a woman said.

Investigators said the trio used a rifle, a shotgun and possibly a handgun in a firefight with the informant.

Officials wrote that the informant managed to get away and survive. There was a female in the car with the informant.

"Smith's girlfriend manually set the DVR system to record," law enforcement said in documents. "Investigators believe it may have been to capture video of the killing and help claim the bounty on the informant's life."

Smith's mother spoke with Channel 9 briefly following Thursday's hearing. She said her son is innocent.

"I was always a single mother, he's always been good with me," she said.

She disputed the claim that the shooting was an ambush.

"All three of those guys (were) avid hunters. If they (were) wanting to kill someone, they would kill them," she said.

Investigators have not released the video of the shooting.