GASTON COUNTY, N.C. (NewsNation Now) – A police officer died after a shootout Friday morning in a North Carolina suburb west of Charlotte.
The officer was shot and killed after police exchanged fire with a suspect near the Mount Holly Car Wash, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
CMPD said Mount Holly officers and a Gaston County police officer were confronting an armed suspect on a call of breaking and entering around 3:30 a.m.
Officer Tyler Herndon, 25, was shot during the encounter and was taken to the hospital. Officer Herndon did not survive his injuries, reported NewsNation affiliate WJZY.
The Mount Holly Police Department posted a photo of the slain officer with the post: “It is with heavy hearts that we share that our brother Officer Tyler Herndon passed away as a result of injuries sustained from this morning’s shooting.”
Officer Herndon had been an officer with Mount Holly Police for less than two years, WJZY reported.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Joshua Tyler Funk, was treated at the hospital and released to law enforcement. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Funk is jailed without bond and he has not been assigned an attorney, according to a court clerk.
Procedure dictates that the Internal Affairs Bureau with the Mount Holly Police Department will conduct a “separate but parallel investigation to determine whether department policies and procedures were followed during the incident.”