KNIGHTDALE -- The early morning routine of a husband saying goodbye to his wife before heading out to the door for work turned into terror Thursday when the quiet along a rural strip of road in Knightdale was shattered by a single gunshot and a church minister lay dead in his own driveway.

On 911 recordings made public Friday by the Wake County Sheriff's Office, Phyllis Ann Smith can be heard wailing and sobbing in the background while her daughter Patrice Alston told an emergency dispatcher that she and her mother heard a gunshot moments after her stepfather, Michael Connell Smith, left the house about 2:30 a.m.

When sheriff's deputies arrived at 1808 Lucas Road, they found Michael Smith, 48, a truck driver and minister, dead from an apparent gunshot wound.

Investigators have not yet disclosed a motive for the shooting. Nor will they comment about any possible suspects or leads. Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Friday that his investigators are "working around the clock" on the case.

The 911 recordings paint a painful picture of a hysterical mother and daughter too afraid to go outside. Patrice Alston called her stepfather's cell phone repeatedly, while her mother begged a dispatcher to please hurry and send someone to help them.

"My husband just left out the door, and he didn't come back in," Smith, 49, told the dispatcher. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. It sounded so close, like it was right there," the distraught woman said. Smith directed her daughter to call her stepfather's cell number while explaining to the dispatcher what happened.

"Call his phone, call his phone, call his phone," Smith said over and over to her daughter. "I'm calling it," Patrice Alston said between her own sobs.

"Make sure my baby's at work," Smith said to Alston. "He probably went to work." She tried to reassure herself, saying "He going to call back."

A family friend and others described Smith as a friendly, family-oriented man, the sheriff's office reported. Smith served as an associate minister at Truth and Deliverance International Ministries, a modest congregation on Smithfield Road in Knightdale.

Investigators say they are looking for potential witnesses who may have seen a car or person in the area Thursday between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m.

Sheriff's deputies are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call the Wake County Sheriff's Office at 856-6911.

Newsresearcher BrookeCain contributed tothisreport