Two deputies and a suspect were shot Tuesday near Maxton, North Carolina, Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said. One deputy is in serious condition, and another is in critical condition and was in surgery Tuesday afternoon, the sheriff said.
The suspect, Shawn Locklear, 20, is in critical condition and was airlifted to UNC Health in Chapel Hill, Wilkins said. The suspect was already facing charges for armed robbery and murder, according to the sheriff and court records.
The sheriff criticized a judge for allowing Locklear to post bond and get out of jail.
"I am 100% disgusted by certain parts of our judicial system," the sheriff said in a news conference Tuesday. "This suspect was out on bond."
Wilkins said Locklear has been charged in March 2022 with armed robbery and with murder in a November 2022 shooting that killed one and injured two others.
Locklear was released in May to await trial.
"The disgusting part about all of this is, he's out, after already committing a felony, an armed robbery, earlier," the sheriff said.
"Had this guy been locked up where he was supposed to be, yes our jail is full, but I can make room for a murder suspect, I have never seen such a waste that murderers are walking around in this county the way they are," he said.
Deputies Jonathan Walters, 37, and Kaelin Locklear, 23, are both being treated for their injuries. Walters was shot in the leg and is listed in critical but stable condition, according to the sheriff's office. Kaelin Locklear is in stable condition, the sheriff's office said.
The shooting happened in a wooded area near Old Red Springs Road at about 9:30 a.m., the sheriff said. There was a large police presence around the scene Tuesday afternoon.
Deputies were looking for Shawn Locklear at a home outside Maxton to serve a warrant for violating pre-trial release.
Shawn Locklear ran from deputies, officials said. When the deputies found the suspect, he started shooting, Wilkins said.
"In the melee, both deputies were struck. One deputy is struck at least three times in the upper body. One deputy is shot in the leg, in the area of the femoral artery," the sheriff said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
"The suspect jumps in one of the deputy's cars," Wilkins said. "He immediately starts backing up and runs over one of the deputies, breaking the deputy's leg. The other deputy on the scene opens fire."
Deputies caught up with the suspect, the sheriff said, and found he had been shot four or five times.
Wilkins said the incident was caught on body cameras.
The injured deputies were taken by other deputies to a nearby hospital and then transferred to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville.
Wilkins said he's asked the State Bureau of Investigation and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to help with the investigation. The SBI typically investigate police and deputy shootings in North Carolina.
