CALDWELL COUNTY– The SBI is investigating after a man died following a shoot-out with a trooper in Caldwell County, according to investigators.
Troopers with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety were investigating a traffic collision involving an overturned vehicle on US 321 near Mission Road in Hudson on June 12th when the shooting occurred, according to a news release.
Investigators say a deputy with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office and State Trooper Bryson Bowman were shot at while investigating the traffic collision, according to a news release. Investigators say both officers returned fire. A short time later, 35-year-old Jerome Lavon Connelly was found in a wooded area suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, according to investigators.
Connelly was transported to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, according to a news release.
The authorities involved in the shooting were not injured. Trooper Bowman will be placed on administrative duty pending an internal investigation which is agency protocol for any trooper-involved shooting.