A suspect in a vehicle break-in fatally shot a deputy before the suspect was killed by other officers during an early morning encounter, a North Carolina sheriff said Thursday.
Henderson County Deputy Ryan Hendrix died Thursday afternoon, hours after he was shot while he and other deputies responded to a call about a vehicle break-in, news outlets reported.
Sheriff Lowell Griffin said a homeowner had noticed someone breaking into a car around 3 a.m. Thursday.
Griffin said the homeowner yelled at the man, who then shattered a window at the home with a crowbar. Griffin said the man and the homeowner exchanged gunfire after the suspect took a gun from the vehicle and before deputies arrived.
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Griffin said the suspect appeared to comply with commands to show deputies his hands before firing once and shooting Hendrix in the face. The sheriff said two other deputies returned fire and that the suspect, identified as Robert Ray Doss Jr, died at the scene.
Hendrix, who had been with the sheriff’s office since 2012, was a Marine veteran and the father of two children.
