Camden man injured in shooting 3 years ago dies

A man paralyzed in an unsolved Camden shooting three years ago has died from his injuries, leading authorities to upgrade the case to a homicide.

Ralph Byrd, 45, died Friday at Underwood Memorial Hospital in Woodbury from an infection that resulted from his injuries.

A gunshot wound left Byrd a quadriplegic on Nov. 30, 2005, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Since then, he lived at a nursing home in Sewell, where he was plagued by numerous health problems.

Byrd was in and out of the hospital repeatedly, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. He entered Underwood days before his death with a fever and shortness of breath, Laughlin said.

Byrd told police that he was walking through the parking lot of Kaighn Avenue Baptist Church at Ninth Street and Kaighn Avenue shortly before 3 a.m. the night he was shot. He was approached by several people and believed he was about to be robbed, he said. When he ran, he told authorities, someone fired at him.

The shooting left Byrd paralyzed from the neck down, according to a supervisor at the Gloucester Manor nursing home, where he lived.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the prosecutor's office at 856-225-8400.