DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997               TAG: 9704150262

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: COINJOCK                          LENGTH:   36 lines

AFTER FATAL SHOOTING, MAN SURRENDERS TO DEPUTIES

A Currituck County man charged with gunning down his ex-lover's new boyfriend at a gas and food stop near Coinjock is being held without bond at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Gary Wayne Lewis, 38, of Ponderosa Mobile Home Park in Maple, surrendered to officers Sunday morning, minutes after the shooting in front of the Duck-N I on Highway 158 near Coinjock. He was charged with first-degree murder. His arraignment is scheduled for April 23.

Witnesses told Currituck County Sheriff's deputies that Ricky Lee Breer, 41, was shot although he pleaded for mercy, said Susan Johnson, sheriff's department spokeswoman.

Authorities said Breer's permanent address was in Springfield, Va., but he had been living on Halls Creek Road just outside of Elizabeth City while he worked as a foreman at a Currituck school construction site.

Officers said Breer had been seeing Diane Cesil, a woman Lewis had lived with for at least five years before they broke up recently.

Cesil works at the Duck-N I as a cook and cashier. Witnesses said Breer, driving Cesil's 1989 Camaro, pulled into the convenience store about 7:15 a.m. Sunday to drop her off for work. Driving a borrowed car, Lewis allegedly followed the couple to the scene, Johnson said.

When Breer got out of the car he was shot at close range, witnesses said. Cesil was not hurt.

Lewis remained at the scene until deputies arrived, and he did not resist arrest. ``He put down the gun and surrendered,'' Johnson said.

Lewis and Cesil apparently had a stormy relationship, Johnson said. Deputies had often gone to the couple's mobile home on domestic dispute calls, she said. Deputies had served a restraining order against Lewis last Friday. KEYWORDS: MURDER SHOOTING ARREST

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