Sandy MaloneRowan County, NC – Two law enforcement officers and a firefighter were shot in North Carolina early on Friday morning by a man that they were trying to save whom they thought was they thought was trapped inside a burning trailer that they were trying to save.
Rowan County 911 received the first emergency call reporting the fire in the 500-block of Mahaffey Drive near Goodman Drive in Salisbury at about 12:40 a.m. on Dec. 2, WXII reported.
The 911 caller told dispatchers that they believed there was a person trapped inside the burning mobile home.
Firefighters and Rowan County sheriff’s deputies were immediately dispatched to the scene, WXII reported.
Officials said that when firefighters arrived at the manufactured home, there were flames shooting from it and the entire trailer was ablaze.
Neighbors told responding deputies and firefighters that they thought there was someone inside the back of the mobile home, WXII reported.
But when firefighters went around the back of the trailer to try to rescue its occupant, the man they were trying to save opened fire on them, according to the sheriff’s department.
Officials said a gunfight ensued and two firefighters and one law enforcement officer were wounded in the exchange, WXII reported.
They were transported to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, according to the sheriff’s department.
Officials later announced that the armed suspect who fired at the firefighters and deputies was found dead inside the burned mobile home, WXII reported.
His cause of death has not yet been determined.
The sheriff’s department has not yet released the identities of the wounded heroes or the suspect who shot them, WXII reported.
Authorities said that the injuries that were sustained by the first responders were minor, WAFF reported.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has been on the scene helping the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office with the investigation into the officer-involved shooting.
Holly Matkin
