Cherokee County, North Carolina, detention officer Francisco Flattes was killed Monday while transporting an inmate for medical care.Cherokee County SO/Facebook
A Cherokee County, North Carolina, detention officer was killed Monday (June 30, 2025) when he was shot and killed during a prisoner transport incident. A second detention officer was injured but not shot.
Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith said that federal inmate Kelvin Simmons, 48, attacked the two detention officers—Francisco Flattes and George Fienauer--during a transport to a medical facility in Peachtree, North Carolina, for orthopedic care.
The sheriff said in a press conference that there was a “scuffle” and the inmate grabbed one of the officers’ guns and fatally shot Flattes. Detention Officer Fienauer was also injured in the attack. Sheriff Smith said Fienauer was “recovering.”
The inmate then fled in a vehicle that he reportedly carjacked from its owner who was just arriving at the facility. The motorist was not injured, according to Sheriff Smith.
“Simmons drove away and was later spotted in Clay County, North Carolina. A pursuit was initiated by the North Carolina Highway Patrol assisted by Cherokee County, Clay county and continued into Macon County, North Carolina, where Macon County Sheriff’s deputies assisted in the chase. There, the suspect’s vehicle was disabled by Captain David Williams of Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office. Following a brief standoff, Simmons was taken into custody by Macon County Sheriff’s Office,” the Cherokee County SO said in a press release. He was returned to Cherokee County restrained by Officer Flattes’ handcuffs.
Simmons was being held in the Cherokee County detention facility on federal charges of bank robbery. Sheriff Smith said he had previously tried to escape in October 2024 by climbing a fence.
District Attorney Ashley Welch said Simmons would be charged with first-degree murder.
Officer Flattes was 56. He had served with the Cherokee County SO for four years. Sheriff Smith called him “a good man.”
Flattes is survived by his wife, his children, grandchildren, and a son-in-law who serves as a Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputy.
“This is the hardest day of my career, we are all mourning the loss of Francisco and doing everything we can to support each other and the family and loved ones of Officer Flattes,” Sheriff Smith said in a Facebook statement.
