In the middle of busy downtown Waynesville traffic, during the Friday lunch hour at 12:45 p.m., an officer-involved shooting occurred between Waynesville Police Department officers, Haywood County Sheriff officers and a suspect — who was allegedly driving a stolen vehicle.
At 11:50 a.m., a Haywood County Sheriff’s Office detention officer was transporting two inmates, Robert Edward Branning and Joshua Phillips, both of Canton, to be housed in the Buncombe County Jail. During the transport, the officer observed one of the inmates causing a disturbance in the transport vehicle near.
The officer stopped the vehicle to take care of the disturbance. As the car stopped, Phillips exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot but was quickly apprehended. As this was happening, a bystander stopped to assist the detention officer when Branning fled from the vehicle. He carjacked the passerby’s vehicle, a dark green four-door Jeep Wrangler, and fled with a 6-year-old boy inside.
A gun inside the Jeep Wrangler was later used by Branning during a confrontation with law enforcement officials.
The child in the Jeep was dropped off several miles down the road near Exit 31 on I-40 and it has been reported that the child is safe.
The Mountaineer learned that the vehicle pursuit was called in by a citizen, Whitney Conner, who heard the call on the police scanner and saw a vehicle matching its description as she was driving in Bethel on her way to work in Cherokee.
She said she saw no one in the vehicle other than the driver. She called in what she witnessed directly to the sheriff's office.
The carjacked vehicle was spotted by law enforcement several minutes later in the Bethel community. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but Branning fled in the vehicle and a chase ensued.
Near the city limits of Waynesville, the Waynesville Police Department used stop sticks to flatten the front tires of the fleeing vehicle.
Branning continued in the hijacked vehicle on U.S. 276 toward Waynesville, then turned on to Main Street as Sheriff’s deputies and Waynesville Police officers continued to pursue the vehicle.
Upon reaching Main Street, Branning only traveled a few blocks north before rear ending another vehicle, bringing the chase to an end. He then backed into a Sheriff's deputy vehicle behind him. According to witnesses, several deputies surrounded the vehicle, calling for Branning to surrender. At some point he displayed the weapon and deputies responded with gunfire.
He was transported to an area hospital and the N.C. State Bureau of Investigations is investigating this incident which is protocol for officer-involved shootings.
An update provided by the Haywood County Sheriff's Department Saturday indicate Branning is in stable condition.
According court records, both Branning and Phillips are habitual felons, and both have a history of firearms charges and violent crimes. Branning also has a conviction for assaulting and physically injuring a detention employee, as well as tampering with an electronic monitoring device.
Witnesses on Main Street
Brandon Davis, an employee at Mast General Store, was an eyewitness as events unfolded.
"I was standing here at the window and saw all these police cars. The Jeep suddenly stopped, hit the car in front of him and hit the police car behind him. He reversed and hit the sheriff's car behind him, then the sheriff's deputy got out and went to the driver's side with his gun drawn and shot multiple times. There were five shots fired at 12:45 p.m."
Witnesses say that the driver attempted to exit the vehicle and was shot by the sheriff's deputy as he attempted to flee arrest.
Mike Gilmore, who was visiting Waynesville from Jacksonville, Florida, was standing about 10 feet away from the scene when he saw the traffic incident and heard the shooting.
"I heard the cops coming and they stopped the driver with the traffic," Gilmore said. "As soon as he slammed into the car in front of him, I got my phone out, but by the time I lifted the phone up, shots were fired, so I grabbed my wife and ran inside the Olde Brick House."
Eyewitnesses at the scene say the escapee was wearing orange clothing and his midsection was bloody when he was lifted onto a stretcher.
The man did not appear to be fatally wounded, said witnesses. He was transported to Mission Hospital.
Eyewitnesses at the scene say the man's ankles were in shackles. It is unknown whether he was shackled at the scene or prior to the incident.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar