GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — A police officer responding to a report of a man with a gun inside a North Carolina supermarket was fatally shot Monday and a suspect was later taken into custody, authorities said.
Police announced the death of Greensboro police officer Michael Horan at a news conference, saying Horan was responding to the report when he was shot shortly before midday at a Food Lion store in Greensboro in the central part of the state.
Ramona Miller told WGHP-TV she was shopping with her 6-year-old granddaughter when she heard shots being fired.
“We were on our way out and I was purchasing a lottery ticket and I was just sitting there and heard a ‘pop-pop’ and then ‘pop-pop-pop.’ I think I heard five shots,” Miller said. “At first I didn’t know it was a shooting ... but an employee yelled out, ‘Shooting! Shooting!’ ”
Miller said she and her granddaughter left the store and that police arrived soon afterward.
Authorities said Monday afternoon that the circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation and they did not immediately release further details about how it unfolded. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the state's lead law enforcement agency, is continuing the investigation.
Horan was hired in 2017 and became a sworn Greensboro Police Department officer in early 2018, Assistant Police Chief Milford J. Harris said. Horan served in the department’s patrol bureau. He also was a U.S. Coast Guard member since 2000, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“He was an excellent officer. He had an outstanding reputation inside the department and in the community,” Harris said at the news conference.
Gov. Roy Cooper said he was monitoring the day's developments.
Cooper said on the social media platform X that his office had sent a “significant” number of to aid the emergency response in Greensboro.
A heavy police presence was spotted outside the grocery store in Greensboro.
The store will remain closed while authorities continue their investigation, Food Lion said in a statement, adding it was providing resources to its affected workers. It directed all questions to local law enforcement and said it was cooperating with the investigation.
The shooting was another reminder that state lawmakers should strengthen resources and improve safety for law enforcement officers, said Democratic state Sen. Michael Garrett, who represents part of Guilford County where Greensboro is located.
“During what should be a time of joy and celebration, another brave officer has been shot in the line of duty. Another family’s holiday season forever changed,” Garrett said in a Facebook statement.
