62-year-old man came at cops with ‘multiple firearms’ — and was killed, NC police say

A 62-year-old man was shot and killed by police in Wilmington, North Carolina, after he left his barricaded home and came at officers with “multiple firearms,” police say.

The man had not yet been identified Thursday morning.

Wilmington police say the incident happened just before 7 p.m. Wednesday. Officers were called to a home in the 600 block of Owens Court, where the homeowner had “barricaded himself” inside, according to a news release from police. That’s in the Pine Valley area of Wilmington, which is 120 miles southeast of Raleigh.

Two officers were involved in the shooting, the Wilmington Star News reported.

“He exited with multiple fire arms. Officers gave multiple commands, which he did not follow,” police said. “Officers shot the suspect who died at the scene.”

Witness Nikki Strawn told WECT she feared her family might get hit by stray bullets once the gunfire started.

“All of a sudden you just heard a barrage of guns like bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. That’s when we realized just how close it was, which was super scary,” she was quoted saying. “You could hear the whole time the police trying to bargain with the person like ‘put it down, put it down’ and then it kind of went silent for a little bit and then again ‘put it down, put it down’ and profanities here and there.”

Three investigations have been launched, including an internal review and a State Bureau of Investigation inquiry of the officers, according to a press release.

The officers are on paid leave until the investigations are concluded, officials said.

This story was originally published May 30, 2019 at 10:09 AM.