Police: 3 officers shot during standoff in North Carolina
HIGH POINT, N.C. (NewsNation Now) — Three North Carolina police officers were shot during an overnight standoff in which police said a man barricaded himself inside a home.
Police announced the standoff was over around 10:30 a.m. Friday and that the officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries reported NewsNation affiliate WGHP.
The standoff began after 11 p.m. Thursday after an officer heard gunshots near a home on the 2900 block of West English Road. The officer approached on foot and spotted a man on the porch with a rifle. The man, who’s believed to live at the house, retreated inside and barricaded himself as more officers arrived.
“He ended up retreating back into the house, and we ended up having a barricaded subject,” said High Point Police Lt. Matt Truitt.
As tactical teams arrived and worked to get him out of the house, the suspect is accused of shooting the three officers.
Reporters on the scene described hearing loud bangs before the standoff concluded. Police have not confirmed what caused the sound or whether the suspect was arrested.
However, a North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson told WGHP that the department is investigating an officer-involved shooting related to the standoff.
“The people that we work with each and every day have been struck by gunfire,” Truitt said. “This is something that you never want to receive a call, those as far as another one of your coworkers has been struck by gunfire.”
The High Point Police Department has not released the names of the officers involved but did confirm that all three injured officers were veteran men of the force and part of the tactical team. One officer underwent surgery and is recovering. The other two officers were released from the hospital later in the day.
The Associated Press and WGHP contributed to this report.