Greensboro, Dec 24 (AP) A police officer responding to a report of a man with a gun inside a North Carolina supermarket was fatally shot Monday and authorities said a suspect was later taken into custody, authorities say.
Police announced the death of Michael Horan, a Greensboro police officer, at an afternoon news conference, saying Horan was responding to a call about an armed person when he was shot before midday at a Food Lion store in Greensboro in the central part of the state.
Ramona Miller told WGHP-TV she was shopping with her 6-year-old granddaughter when she heard shots fired.
“We were on our way out and I was purchasing a lottery ticket and I was just sitting there and heard a pop-pop' and then pop-pop-pop.' I think I heard five shots,” Miller said. “At first I didn't know it was a shooting ... but an employee yelled out shooting! shooting!' ”
Miller said she and her granddaughter then left the store and police had already arrived.
Authorities said Monday afternoon that the circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation and they did not immediately release further specifics of the shooting. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is expected to continue the investigatoin.
Horan was hired in 2017 and became a sworn Greensboro Police Department officer in early 2018, Assistant Police Chief Milford J. Harris said. Horan served in the department's patrol bureau.
“He was an excellent officer. He had an outstanding reputation inside the department and in the community,” Harris said.
Elsewhere, Gov. Roy Cooper said he had been monitoring the developments.
Cooper said on the social media platform X that his officer had sent a “significant” number of state law enforcement officers to help aid in the emergency response in Greensboro.
A heavy police presence was spotted outside the grocery store in Greensboro afterward.
The store will remain closed while police continue their investigation, a Food Lion spokesperson said in a statement. The company plans to provide resources to its affected workers. It added that it was directing all questions to local law enforcement and cooperating with authorities.
The shooting was another reminder that state lawmakers should strengthen resources and improve safety for law enforcement officers, said Democratic state Sen. Michael Garrett, who represents part of Guilford County where Greensboro is located.
“During what should be a time of joy and celebration, another brave officer has been shot in the line of duty. Another family's holiday season forever changed,” Garrett said in a Facebook statement. (AP) AS
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