Sheriff Donnie Harrison said that someone reported hearing a gunshot shortly after 3:30 a.m. When deputies arrived at 1808 Lucas Road a few minutes later, they found the body of Michael Donnell Smith, 48.
Neighbor Craig Lucas said Smith, who lived at the residence with his wife and stepdaughter, was also a truck driver and might have been going to work.
Investigators are still trying to determine what happened and have not offered a possible motive for the shooting or why Smith might have been outside his home at that time of night.
Harrison said Smith's wife was inside the home at the time. No one else was injured.
Smith was arrested on fraud charges in 2004, but Lucas said he had turned around his life within the past few years.
He was an associate minister at Truth and Delivery International Ministry Church in Knightdale, where he preached, taught Bible study, Sunday school and was active in community outreach.
He had given his first sermon at the church exactly three years ago Thursday.
