Did A NC State Trooper Just Kill A Looter In Hurricane-Ravaged Lumberton?

According to a news release from the North Carolina Governor’s office, a state trooper and deputies shot and killed a man in some sort of confrontation in hurricane-ravaged Lumberton.

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North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory says a state trooper shot and killed a man during a confrontation amid floodwaters in hart-hit Lumberton.

McCrory said Tuesday that the trooper and two deputies encountered the man while going through high water in a Humvee around 8 p.m. Monday.

McCrory says he has few details about what led to the shooting only saying it happened in “very difficult circumstances.”

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Details of the shooting are very sketchy at best, but the incident occurred yesterday at around 8:00 PM, just as a curfew went into effect, and on the same day Lumberton’s police chief warned that law enforcement “would be aggressive” in stopping looting.

The chief of the Lumberton Police Department said he has heard reports of some looting and break-ins he believes is a result of Hurricane Matthew and he and the county sheriff said their officers would be on the lookout for violators and would be aggressive in stopping it.

Police Chief Mike McNeill did not have a lot of details, but said he had heard that an ABC store and a jewelry store were burglarized, and The Robesonian was told that some folks have gone to used-car lots to siphon gasoline. McNeill said the incidents he was aware of occurred Sunday night, and he was not aware of further problems today.

Sheriff Ken Sealey said his office had not had reports of looting, but said he was “sure that was happening.”

Lumberton will have a curfew in effect again tonight, from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. Tuesday. Mayor Bruce Davis said he expects the curfew will remain in place until power is full restored.

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It’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible for the SBI to investigate a shooting with their usual thoroughness due to dangerous floodwaters. Based on accounts I’m getting from friends in Lumberton, it appears that the man was shot while looting.

North Carolina National Guardsmen are deployed in the area, with water rescue teams from as far away as New York helping rescue people from floodwaters that are still rising in many parts of eastern North Carolina. Hurricane Matthew dumped heavy rains—12-18 inches—in many areas before slowly working out to sea.

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Hundreds of people were rescued in North Carolina in the past 48 hours  by boat and helicopters in storm-ravaged parts of the state.

Roughly 2,000 people remain trapped in their homes and on rooftops in and around Lumberton.

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Tom Knighton 5:30 PM | November 29, 2024