North Carolina sheriff’s deputies shot, wounded during standoff; suspected shooter barricaded in home

BOONE, N.C. — Two North Carolina sheriff’s deputies were shot and wounded during a standoff Wednesday, and officials say one of the deputies who was shot was still at the scene.

The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office said the shooter remains barricaded in a portion of the home and has periodically fired at law enforcement officers nearby.

Deputies were dispatched to a home in Boone at 9:44 a.m. after the homeowner and his family did not report for work or answer telephone calls, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Deputies entered the home and were fired upon, the news release said. One deputy was shot, removed from the house and taken to a hospital in Johnson City, Tennessee. The second deputy is still at the scene of the standoff and the condition isn’t known, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office says law enforcement has surrounded the home and residents in the vicinity of the standoff have been evacuated.

Clarence Wilson, 78, was on the porch of his home in Boone when sheriff’s deputies pulled up in front of the house across the street. Gunfire erupted after the deputies arrived, Wilson said.

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“Then they told me to get back in the house and stay,” he said.

Wilson said he saw deputies pull a man from the house.

“I don’t know if it was a deputy or who it was,” he said. “I was just worried about keeping myself safe.”

Wilson said he heard a second barrage of gunfire around noon. Police remained on the scene more than four hours later, he said.

He said it’s a “real quiet neighborhood” with many retirees like himself.

“We ain’t used to all this,” he said.

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