A North Carolina highway patrol sergeant has been indicted for murder after allegedly shooting a Cumberland County sheriff's captain outside a woman's home following years of romantic rivalry between the two officers. Sgt. Nekime Matu Oxendine, 44, is accused of killing Capt. Adam Bean, 20-year veteran and assistant chief of detectives, on 27 March in Hope Mills, North Carolina, in a confrontation stemming from both men's relationships with the same woman, Tara Lynn Whitman.

Court filings describe years of jealousy and alleged stalking by Oxendine after Whitman began dating Bean in 2022, before she later returned to Oxendine in December 2025. On the night of the shooting, Bean went to confront Oxendine after Whitman failed to meet him as arranged; Oxendine reportedly fired warning shots before shooting Bean two to three more times as he advanced. Police arrived to find Whitman performing CPR on Bean, who was pronounced dead at the scene; Oxendine has been charged with first-degree murder, and Bean was posthumously honoured with a Merit Award for his service.