NC deputy sheriff killed, second deputy injury during standoff
WATAUGA COUNTY, N.C. April 29 2021— A 13-hour standoff in Watauga County has come to an end.
Authorities said a deputy died and another was wounded in a shooting that prompted a daylong standoff Wednesday that dragged into the night with law enforcement officers surrounding a home.
Channel 9′s partners at the Morganton News Herald were reporting that authorities said the suspect appeared to have died by suicide. His name has not been released.
The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that deputies were dispatched to home in Boone at 9:44 a.m. after the homeowner and his family didn’t report to work or answer telephone calls. The deputies entered the home and were fired upon, according to the news release.
Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman said Sgt. Chris Ward died at a hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee, where he was taken after being removed from the house. The second deputy, identified as K-9 Deputy Logan Fox, was still at the home in an unknown medical condition late Wednesday, Hagaman said.
Standoff in Watauga County Law enforcement personnel gather in prayer at the scene of a deadly shooting and standoff in Boone.
The conditions of anyone else in the house wasn’t immediately known.
Around midnight, a neighbor who had been evacuated told Eyewitness News that he was allowed to return to his home. Channel 9 was there as a procession made it’s way down Highway 421 for one of the fallen deputies.
Flags at the sheriff’s office were lowered to half-staff Thursday morning and a growing memorial was set up outside.
Deputies were called to the Hardaman Circle area in Boone Wednesday morning to conduct a welfare check after the homeowner and his family did not go to work and were not answering phone calls.
Officials said deputies entered the house after seeing all the family’s vehicles were still on the property. When deputies stepped inside, someone in the home opened fire, shooting the two deputies.
Authorities turned the parking lot at Mount Vernon Baptist Church into a mobile command center.
The Rev. Todd Houston told Channel 9 reporter DaShawn Brown they were holding a vaccine clinic when the standoff unfolded.
“We had a full parking lot, and we quickly had to turn the parking lot over,” Houston said. “We have a Christian school here. We had to lock it down because we were just uncertain of the nature of the threat earlier on.”
Authorities said the standoff continued throughout the afternoon and into the night, with the shooter barricaded in a section of the house. They said the shooter would periodically fire in the direction of officers.
“This is an incredibly tragic situation and our thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved as well as their families and our community,” said Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman. “I greatly appreciate the tremendous support we are receiving from law enforcement agencies across the region and the state.”
Neighbors in the area were ordered to shelter in place. They received an alert saying to stay in their homes with their doors and windows closed.
Eyewitnesses described hearing gunfire around 9 a.m. Wiley Brown told Channel 9′s Dave Faherty he was getting ready to cut his grass when he heard the shots coming from down the road.
“I had just walked out in the yard and heard ‘Bang, bang, bang, bang,’” Brown said. “I really didn’t know what it was.”
Gloria Eggers said she lives down the road from the shooting investigation. She said her son-in-law is in law enforcement and is praying for everyone involved.
“Our world is in a bad situation right now and police officers have it really bad,” Eggers said.
Earlier in the day, App State police said local law enforcement was investigating a shooting in the area, but said there was no threat to App State’s campus.
Law enforcement agencies from all over the state, including several SWAT teams, came to support the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, including: Appalachian State University’s Police, Avery County Sheriff’s Office, Beech Mountain Police, Blowing Rock Police, Boone Police, Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, Hickory Police, Morganton Public Safety, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office, West Jefferson Police and Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office.
The SBI took over the scene Wednesday night.
WSOCTV
