Wake deputies cleared in fatal shooting near US 401; DA rules it was self-defense
Wake County sheriff’s deputies acted in self-defense when they fatally shot a 33-year-old man who refused to leave his car, tried to back over an officer and pulled out a gun, District Attorney Lorrin Freeman reported Thursday.
On Aug. 31, Troy Thompson was killed by two gunshots to the head near Ten-Ten Road in southern Wake County. Deputies found a loaded .25 Titan handgun and a spent shell casing inside the car.
Thompson’s death is the second law enforcement shooting Freeman has cleared this week. On Tuesday, she made the same ruling for a Raleigh police sergeant who shot an alleged kidnapper in the leg.
In Thompson’s case, deputies got a call about an assault from 8001 Caddy Road at roughly 8:30 p.m. They arrived at a poorly lit, partially wooded lot with two groups of houses, several mobile homes and many junked cars, Freeman’s report said. The caller told deputies that Thompson had sent a text message threatening to kill him in a dispute over money.
About two hours later, deputies got a second call about Thompson’s threats from the same address and found him in the driver’s seat of a running sedan.
“Over the next twenty minutes while the law enforcement officers were giving commands for him to exit the vehicle, Thompson drove erratically in the area where the officers were located,” Freeman’s report said. “Thompson refused to comply with commands to exit the vehicle and threatened to kill someone.”
Deputies tried to lay down a stop-stick, which failed when Thompson tried to run the deputy down with his car, the report said. When deputies tried pepper spray and flash-bang grenades, “Thompson reached over with his right hand into the passenger seat area and produced a handgun.”
Deputies were not wearing body cameras, and dashcam footage did not capture the shooting, the report said. Cell phone footage from a witness showed the erratic driving and commands to exit the car.
No deputies will be prosecuted in this case.
This story was originally published December 12, 2019 at 1:34 PM.