On Sunday, March 27, 2016 at approximately 2:15 a.m., a trooper responded to a call for assistance by the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office involving a shooting that had occurred at Club Aries located near the intersection of Suttontown Road and Poole Road.
As the trooper approached the scene and exited his vehicle, he encountered two male subjects running towards him. The trooper saw that one of the subjects had a gun. The subject failed to comply with the trooper’s commands to stop and drop the weapon. The subject pointed the weapon directly at the trooper who fired, fatally striking the individual. The second subject was taken into custody without incident. Two weapons were recovered from the scene. The State Bureau of Investigation is the investigating agency in the trooper involved shooting.
“This type of incident is a reminder of the serious and dangerous situations our troopers face every single day,” North Carolina State Highway Patrol Colonel William Grey said. “We are saddened by the loss of life but grateful that our trooper is safe."
The trooper is a six-year veteran assigned to the Troop A District 7 Kinston Highway Patrol office located in Lenoir County. He has been placed on Administrative Duty pending an internal investigation, which is standard operating procedure in all trooper-involved shootings.
All media inquiries into the investigation of the officer-involved shooting should be directed to the State Bureau of Investigation, Special Agent Shannon O’Toole, at 919-582-8511 or sotoole@ncsbi.gov.
All media inquiries involving the shooting incident at Club Aries should be directed to Major Ryan Dawson of the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office at 252-560-2584 or rdawson@co.lenoir.nc.
All media inquiries into this matter should be addressed to Lieutenant Jeff Gordon, North Carolina State Highway Patrol Public Information Officer at 919-306-7058 or Jeff.Gordon@ncdps.gov.
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