Four policemen were killed on Monday in a shootout during an operation to arrest a suspect, who was also killed in Charlotte, in the American state of North Carolina, according to the authorities, quoted by EFE, Agerpres reports.
In addition to the four police officers who died, four other policemen were injured in the exchange of fire. Two suspects were arrested.
The incident occurred around 13:30 local time (17:30 GMT), when a group of agents of the United States Sheriff’s Service were preparing to execute an arrest warrant issued on the name of an individual for illegal possession of firearms. The man already had a record.
“When they approached that individual, they were met with gunfire,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings explained at a news conference.
The police fatally shot the man in the front yard of the house, but he fired on them from inside the house.
In those shootings, three sheriff’s deputies were killed and four other officers were injured (another sheriff’s deputy and three Charlotte local police officers).
A fourth officer, a local policeman who had been seriously injured, died a few hours later in hospital.
After a “long confrontation”, the police detained two people inside the house.
“We are now trying to determine what exactly happened inside the residence,” Jennings said.
American President Joe Biden spoke with the mayor of Charlotte, Vi Lyles, and with the governor of the state of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, to whom he sent his condolences.
Tags: police officers killed wounded shootout North Carolina
