NC Officer Shot in Head During Traffic Stop, Suspect Killed

A Kings, NC, police officer is hospitalized and recovering after being shot in the head during a traffic stop Sunday morning. The 19-year-old male suspect was killed during the shootout with officers.

Kings Police Chief J.J. Boyette tells Fox8 the wounded officer is a four-year veteran of the department and is expected to recover. The officer, who also is a part-time deputy with the Stokes County Sheriff’s Office, sustained a skull fracture but is able to talk and joke, the chief says.

Two officers pulled over a car, occupied by four individuals ages 18 to 20, for a traffic violation. The car stopped in the parking lot of an events center and several suspects exited the car and ran away, according to Boyette. One of the remaining occupants stepped from the backseat of the car and fired at officers.

“This all occurred in less than 13 seconds from the time the vehicle stopped till the suspect was neutralized,” Boyette says in a television interview .

The State Bureau of Investigation is in charge of investigating the officer-involved shooting.