The police chief says officers approached self-identified gang member Deontea Mackey.
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“Our officers who were here on the scene and who responded to assist performed CPR on our officer, and the CPR was unsuccessful”, Miller said.
Mackey led officers on a brief chase and took cover behind a home, where he opened fire, Miller said.
As the other officers began to close in on Mackey, he shot himself and was pronounced dead on the scene.
The suspect continued to run behind houses and through the woods and on to a spur of the Swamp Rabbit Trail where he took his own life, Miller said.
Officers are receiving peer support for their fallen comrade, Miller said. His wife is pregnant with the couple’s daughter due to be born in July.
Greenville Police Department officer Allen Jacobs was shot and killed Friday in the line of duty.
“This is everyone’s worse nightmare”, Miller said.
“We were specifically focusing on an issue of violence and gang activity and he took that challenge head on”, Miller said.
Miller, who refused to identify what gang the suspect was a member of, would only say the gang is “known and established” in the community.
Mackey was arrested in March 2015 for strong-arm robbery.
“We lose, we hurt, we ache”, Miller told WLTX-TV.
This toll is significantly up from the same time previous year, when four officers had been shot and killed; one of these officers was accidentally shot during a training exercise.
Evans did not know how many times Jacobs had been shot.
An autopsy is scheduled for Saturday.
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A family friend of the gunman said she was in total disbelief of such thing happening. “It’s insane, so crazy that this happened, but you just have to trust in God and believe that he will work it out for you”, she added.
