North Carolina

Locksmith making house call fatally shot by homeowner, North Carolina cops say

The fatal shooting happened July 23 at a home in 300 block of NE 49th Street on Oak Island, North Carolina, and the homeowner is a suspect, police said.
The fatal shooting happened July 23 at a home in 300 block of NE 49th Street on Oak Island, North Carolina, and the homeowner is a suspect, police said. Street View image from Jan. 2024. © 2025 Google

A locksmith was killed while making a house call and police suspect the homeowner was responsible, according to investigators in North Carolina’s Oak Island.

It happened just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 23, at a home on NE 49th Street, Oak Island police said in a July 24 news release.

A motive for the shooting was not revealed.

“Randy Stewart ... was pronounced deceased at the scene. Shortly afterwards the homeowner, 40-year-old Brian Reed Grant, was arrested,” police said.

“The shooting appears to have occurred during a service call to the home by Mr. Stewart’s locksmith business.”

Stewart, 61, was the owner of Stewart Enterprises Locksmith Service in Southport, about a 12-mile drive east from Oak Island.

Grant was charged with second-degree murder and was being held without bond, jail records show.

He is a former professional baseball player who was drafted in 2002 by the Toronto Blue Jays “and played several seasons in the minor leagues,” the Wilmington Star reports.

Oak Island is about a 160-mile drive southeast from Raleigh.

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Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
Mark Price is a state reporter for The Charlotte Observer and McClatchy News outlets in North Carolina. He joined the network of newspapers in 1991 at The Charlotte Observer, covering beats including schools, crime, immigration, LGBTQ issues, homelessness and nonprofits. He graduated from the University of Memphis with majors in journalism and art history, and a minor in geology. 
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