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Whiteville, N.C. – A North Carolina highway patrol soldier was shot dead while he was conducting a roadside check on Wednesday in Columbus County, near the South Carolina front line, authorities said.
Private Kevin Conner stopped a white GMC pickup truck at approximately 12:15 pm on the American Highway 701 south of Whiteville. The truck stopped near the intersection with Sellers Town Road, and when Conner approached the vehicle, a person inside fired several shots, said the authorities.
Conner was injured at least twice – once in the face and once in the chest – and the shooting was filmed on the dashboard camera in his patrol car and on a security camera at a nearby convenience store. Jon David, District Attorney, Columbus.
The gunman, later identified as Raheem Cole Dashanell Davis, fled.
A good Samaritan came across a wounded Conner about an hour later and called 911, said David.
Conner was declared dead at a nearby hospital and was a veteran of the Columbus County Road Patrol. He was the father of two boys.
Other soldiers followed the shots on Conner's camera to identify the suspect vehicle. They found it at Fair Bluff, about 20 kilometers away, shortly after, said David. When the van stalled on a railroad track, Davis jumped and ran, said the prosecutor, and agents arrested him around 4 am in a wood near the track.
Davis, 20, of Chadbourn, was charged with first degree murder and was held without bail in the Columbus County Jail. David said at a court hearing Wednesday afternoon that he had not yet decided to apply for the death penalty in this case.
"It was a cold-blooded first-degree murder," David said.
Davis was driving a stolen truck when Conner called him, authorities said. The investigators found Davis's shirt and cell phone, but they did not find the weapon used.
Davis was on probation for a January 2017 conviction for firing a gun at a car in Chadbourn in June 2015, according to State Department of Public Security records.
"I was devastated, I had to call a friend and see:" Was that true? "Said Andrea Ector, who attended Bladenboro High School with Conner. "There are good police officers, and Kevin is one of them."
Ector went to court in Davis, which was packed with soldiers, to examine the man accused of shooting his old friend.
"I'm sure that whatever the situation, Kevin would have helped him, he came to court, slightly lighten the sentence, but to kill him, to let him die like an animal is sad, very sad," he said. she said. .
The news of Conner's death also hit David Wright hard.
Four years ago, Conner arrested Wright for impaired driving. Wright said that he was in a bad place at that time and that the soldier helped him get his life back.
"It's kind of thrown me, if you will, maybe wanting to get better," Wright said. "I told him, you did me a favor."
In 2011, Conner was hailed as a hero when he put out a car fire while rescuing a driver involved in an accident in Whiteville.
Local police departments expressed their condolences for the loss of the road patrol on Wednesday morning, and a group of state soldiers gathered at a rally site at Fair Bluff to mourn the loss of life. One of theirs.
"The road patrol family mourns the loss of a hero and will always be upset by the tragic events that have occurred," said Col. Glenn McNeill Jr., commander of the patrol, in a statement. "We ask everyone to keep Conner's family and all those who knew him in your thoughts and prayers."
"It's not something we take lightly. It's a constant reminder of the dangers and perils that law enforcement faces every day, "said the patrol spokesman, 1st Sgt. Michael Baker said.
"We express our deepest sympathies to the family of Private Conner," Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks said in a statement. "Soldier Conner was killed while protecting and serving his community, we mourn our loss and continue to support his family, we are grateful for his service and pay tribute to the men and women who serve each day.
Governor Roy Cooper has ordered that all US and state flags located in state facilities be lowered to half-staff from Thursday morning to Sunday evening.
"The tragic loss of Private Kevin Conner from the Highway Patrol on the state of NC weighs heavily on our hearts," Cooper said in a statement. "We are forever grateful for his dedicated service and selfless commitment to protecting the people of North Carolina, and our prayers are with his family, friends and law enforcement colleagues."
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