Trooper fatally shoots man during flood search and rescue

LUMBERTON, NC (WWAY) — A North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper shot and killed a man last night in what Gov. Pat McCrory called “very difficult circumstances” during a news briefing this morning.

According to a news release from the Highway Patrol, at 8:08 p.m., two members of the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office and  NCSHP Sgt. J.F. Hinson were conducting search and rescue operations in Lumberton. Preliminary information, the release says, shows while traveling on a flooded portion of West Fifth Street, the officers encountered a man, who became hostile towards the officers and displayed a handgun. After seeing the handgun, Sgt. Hinson shot the man, who later died.

Hinson is a 13-year veteran assigned to the Troop B District 7 Lumberton State Highway Patrol office in Robeson County. He has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation which is standard operating procedure in any Patrol involved shooting.

The name of the victim has not yet been released.

“I am proud that our first responders were in the community rendering aid to our citizens,” Col. Bill Grey, commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, said in the release. “While we are saddened by any loss of life, I am thankful that our member and the Robeson County Sheriff’s deputies were not injured.”

The Highway Patrol has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the shooting.