The suspected gunman, Irving Lucien Fenner Jr., 23, was arrested early Wednesday in Coventry, Rhode Island, according to news reports.
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“It’s been a long period of time where the detectives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents all cultivating information, pretty good police work tracking him here”. Philbin said one of them is Fenner’s half-sister. Police in Shelby, a small city about an hour east of Charlotte, initially described his condition as stable but critical.
Brackeen had been with the Shelby Police Department since July 2004 and worked as a K-9 officer. Fenner was not found in the home of 150 Oxford St., but investigators found information leading them to 304 Tiogue Ave.in Coventry.
He said they learned that Fenner was born in Rhode Island, but moved around a lot. Their names were not immediately released, but Philbin described them as Fenner’s friends.
He will be charged with first-degree murder, State Police said.
Police say Brackeen was looking for Fenner, who apparently missed a court date related to a weapons charge, according to necn affiliate WJAR. State Police Col. Steven O’Donnell tells WPRI-TV that Fenner surrendered peacefully.
An investigator “with a bit of free time” chose to send for testing DNA samples from a long-dormant cold case, which led authorities to arrest a pair of men linked to the 1973 shotgun slayings of two young girls, .
Officers in that state transported Fenner to an area hospital because the suspect was suffering from a gunshot wound.
Seate also said Ashley Michelle Hamrick faces charges of felony harboring an escapee.
Shelby Police Chief Jeff Ledford said when he was told Fenner was captured, it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
Four years later, Brackeen and Fenner would meet again in a backyard when Brackeen tried to serve a warrant.
Brackeen’s body was escorted from the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office to the Cecil Burton Funeral Home in Shelby. Keller said the shooting of Officer Brackeen happened in his neighbor’s backyard. The procession, which temporarily shut down part of Interstate 85 southbound, started just after 12:30 p.m. and ended around 2 p.m.
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A funeral service will be held on Friday, September 17, 2016 at 3:00 pm at Keeter Stadium, 230 E Dixon Blvd, Shelby, NC 28152 with Rev. Stephen Brackeen officiating. A GoFundMe page has been created to help the Brackeen family pay for emergency expenses.
