Off-duty police officer is killed in North Carolina after witnessing a crime at a gas station

Police in Greensboro, North Carolina, say an off-duty police officer was shot and killed over the weekend after witnessing a crime at a gas station and approaching suspects.

GREENBORO, N.C. — An off-duty police officer was shot and killed in North Carolina after witnessing a crime at a gas station and approaching the two suspects, authorities said.

The police sergeant, whose name has not been released, was a 22-year veteran of the Greensboro Police Department, Chief John Thompson said during a news conference Saturday night. Thompson did not specify what crime the off-duty officer witnessed or provide additional details about the events leading up to the shooting later that afternoon.

Police were searching for two men in their 20s and a black Chevrolet Equinox, according to a state alert sent to the public by the Greensboro Police Department. The Blue Alert was sent approximately two hours after the shooting and was canceled approximately two hours later. A blue alert is used when a law enforcement officer has been seriously injured, killed, or missing.

Thompson said another off-duty Greensboro officer and a paramedic were on the scene when the shooting occurred and immediately rendered aid to their wounded colleague. The sergeant was pronounced dead at a local medical center.

“He was a loving husband, father, son and brother with 22 years of service to the department,” Thompson said in prepared remarks.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, who also spoke to local media Saturday night, said the department needs time and space to complete its investigation and bring the suspects to justice.

“Words are insufficient right now,” he said. “There’s really nothing I can say that would provide any comfort to the family or the officers. “What happened today was a senseless act of violence.”

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, pledging “every available state resource to catch those who killed a Greensboro police officer.”