Four officers from law enforcement were killed and another four injured while executing a warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to officials.
During a three-hour standoff, police found at least one suspected assailant dead in the yard of a secured residence.
Two armed individuals were reportedly involved in the incident. This event marks one of the most severe attacks on U.S. law enforcement in recent history.
The officers, part of a task force led by the US Marshals Service, were serving a warrant to a felon accused of illegal firearm possession when the shooting occurred.
According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings, the officers engaged a gunman in the yard and were then fired upon from within the house, where a high-powered rifle was later found.
“Today we lost some heroes who were simply trying to keep our community safe,” Jennings stated at a press briefing, noting it was the worst such incident he had seen in his three decades with the police.
Authorities are also questioning two others—a woman and a 17-year-old—who were in the house, believing that at least one may have fired at the police.
The US Marshals Service confirmed the death of one of its officers in the incident.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, recognizing the two state Department of Adult Corrections officers among the dead, expressed his condolences, saying, “Our hearts are with the families and co-workers of officers in today’s brutal attack,” in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Every single day, Deputy U.S. Marshals and Task Force Officers put their lives on the line to apprehend some of our country’s most dangerous criminals,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
“The Justice Department is heartbroken by the deaths of three of our own law enforcement colleagues, and we extend our deepest condolences to their loved ones as they grieve this unfathomable loss.”
