SBI Conducting Officer-Involved Shooting Investigation in Lenoir

LENOIR, NC (June 13, 2023) — The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is conducting a Lenoir Police Department officer-involved shooting investigation that occurred in the 1900 block of Starcross Road.

On Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at approximately 7:20 a.m., officers with the Lenoir Police Department were dispatched to a medical call for service involving a possible drug overdose at a home located at 1983 Starcross Road. Officers arrived on the scene and attempted to make contact with a woman who was present in the home, to determine if anyone required medical assistance.

The officers attempted to speak with the woman before she became agitated and produced two knives. Officers repeatedly asked her to drop the knives, but the woman refused to cooperate. One of the responding officers deployed his Taser to disarm the woman and de-escalate the situation. The woman dropped the weapons momentarily before retrieving them and charging at the officers with the knives in a narrow hallway of the home.

Officers perceived a lethal threat, and one officer fired his service weapon, striking the woman, in an attempt to stop the perceived threat. Medic was on the scene and immediately attempted to render lifesaving first aid to the subject.

Medic transported the woman to Caldwell UNC Healthcare Hospital in Lenoir, where she succumbed to her injuries enroute.

No officers with the Lenoir Police Department were injured in this incident. The name of the officer and subject involved are temporarily being withheld pending appropriate family notification of the incident.

The involved officer will be placed on administrative leave, which is standard policy whenever an officer discharges a service weapon. As is standard procedure with any officer involved shooting, the Lenoir Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct a separate but parallel investigation to determine whether department policies and procedures were adhered to during the incident.

All questions concerning the criminal investigation should be directed to the SBI.

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