A North Carolina firefighter came under fire while trying to rescue two fatally wounded deputies during a 13-hour standoff that left five people dead Wednesday.
The standoff happened just before 10 a.m. when three Watauga County sheriff's deputies made a welfare check at a home in Boone, a town around 100 miles northwest of Charlotte, WSOC-TV reports. After entering the house, two deputies were shot and wounded, but the third deputy was able to escape to safety.
The gunman then barricaded himself, along with his mother and stepfather, and continued to sporadically open fire at law enforcement. Shots were fired when a Boone firefighter, a Boone police officer and an Appalachian State University police officer tried to rescue the wounded deputies, and the Boone officer was struck by the gunfire. He was uninjured because the shot struck his helmet.
The standoff ended just before 11 p.m., and the gunman—Isaac Alton Barnes, 32—and his mother and stepfather were found dead. Deputy Logan Fox died at the scene and Sgt. Chris Ward died at a Tennessee hospital.
Authorities said multiple guns were found inside the house, as well as a plan for possible violence in the community.
It was not a manifesto but it was, like, ‘I need to do this,’” Sheriff Len Hagaman told reporters.
“The deputies took the brunt for the public,” he added.
