A high-speed
chase that began near the Moore County line last Thursday afternoon
ended with a gunfight that resulted in two Chatham County sheriff’s
deputies being wounded and the suspect killed.
Captain Roy
Allen and Sergeant Chris Perry both sustained gunshot wounds in the
leg, according to authorities at the Chatham County Sheriff’s
Office.
The suspect,
David Scott Herring, 35, of 505 Herring Path, Bear Creek, was shot
and killed by officers at the scene of the standoff, which occurred
just outside of Siler City near Alston Bridge Road.
Deputies
initially responded to a call around 12:30 p.m. reporting gunfire at
Siler City Glendon Road, near the Moore County line.
Annette
Rumbley, who made the 911 call, said that it appeared that the
driver of one car was shooting at another vehicle.
"I just
heard this gunshot," Rumbley, a resident of Siler City Glendon Road,
said in the 911 call.
"There’s a
car, sitting parked off of the road and somebody got out and ran. It
sounded like somebody was saying ‘Don’t shoot,’" Rumbley said.
Minutes
later, another call was received by Chatham County 911 from a driver
on Siler City Glendon Road who reported that he was shot at by the
driver of another vehicle.
"Somebody
pulled beside me and shot at my car and tried to kill me," the
caller said.
"He was
going real slow. I passed him. He pulled up beside me. He pulled out
a gun and he shot at me," the caller said.
"He shot at
it with a big gun; a big pistol," the caller said.
"He blew out
my window right beside me," the caller said.
At
approximately 1:30 p.m. a deputy attempted to pull over a vehicle
matching the description from the second 911 call.
The driver
refused to pull over and a chase ensued through the southwest part
of Chatham County. Officers from the Highway Patrol and the Siler
City Police Department joined in the chase.
The chase
reached speeds up to 90 miles per hour, according to Major Gary
Blankenship of the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office.
The chase
continued for approximately 25 miles until officers used "stop
sticks" on Alston Bridge Road in Siler City to deflate the tires of
the suspect’s vehicle.
The car came
to a stop at Log Cabin Road, a gravel roadway near the intersection
of Alston Bridge Road and Progress Boulevard.
According
Blankenship, Herring had a weapon in his car. Authorities ordered
Herring to drop his weapon and get out of the car.
Instead,
Blankenship said, Herring refused to follow officer’s orders and
began to exchange in gunfire with police.
Blankenship
said the suspect was telling officers to shoot him during the
standoff.
During the
exchange, Perry and Allen were each shot in the leg. Herring was
killed.
Blankenship
said the officers involved acted appropriately and showed a great
amount of restraint.
"They did
not want things to end this way," Blankenship said.
"I’d like to
say that this could have been avoided, but I don’t think this could
have," Blankenship said.
A second
suspect was taken into custody by police nearly an hour later.
According to authorities, the second suspect was let out of the
vehicle during the chase. The suspect was later released by
authorities and will not be charged.
Authorities
will not know if drugs or alcohol had a factor in the chase or the
standoff until toxicology reports come back later this week.
Herring had
a history of speeding to elude arrest.
Recently, on
August 17, Herring was arrested after stealing a vehicle and leading
police on a chase through Chatham County, according to authorities.
During that
incident, authorities say Herring knocked on several doors in the
Bennett area. Herring entered one home and demanded keys to a
vehicle.
After the
residents refused, according to authorities, Herring then stole a
pickup truck from a church parking lot.
Herring
drove the truck into Siler City and was involved with at least three
traffic accidents before being apprehended by the Highway Patrol and
the Siler City Police Department in Siler City.
Herring
attempted to escape on foot after being stopped, but was detained by
police.
Herring was
facing felony charges of breaking and entering, felony larceny or a
motor vehicle, common law robbery and criminal damage to property.
Initially
Herring was held under a $100,000 secured bond. On September 1,
Herring’s bond was reduced to an unsecured bond and he was allowed
to sign out on a pretrial release.
The
stipulations of the pretrial release stated that Herring was
required to call Pre-Trial Services until all of his cases were
resolved. If Herring failed to call in, an order for his arrest was
to be issued.
The release
also stated that Herring was forbidden to contact any victims in his
court cases, that he must appear in court on all pending charges and
that he must refrain from obtaining any additional charges.
Patrick
Jones worked with Herring, both as industrial electricians, since
April of last year and got along with Herring well. However, Jones
said he often saw a darker side of Herring.
"[Herring]
could be moody and short tempered. He never went off on me, but he
had short shouting matches with other folks," Jones said.
Jones said
that though Herring and he worked different shifts, he could tell
that Herring was good at his job.
"However, in
the last months of his employment, it became a crap-shoot as to
whether he’d be at work or not on any given workday," Jones said.
"And when he
was there, he’d leave for hours at a time, returning and resuming
work as if nothing had happened," Jones said.
Allen, an 18
year law enforcement veteran, was released from UNC Hospital on
Friday. Perry, who has 14 years of experience in law enforcement, is
expected to be released later this week.
Agents with
the State Bureau of Investigation continue to investigate the shots
fired as part of standard procedure when such shootings occur.
