North Carolina law enforcement allege that Lucas Murphy shot three tree service workers and was himself injured Wednesday during a shootout with police in a press release.
The Yancey County Sheriff’s Office (YCSO) writes in a Facebook post that all four of the injured were hospitalized. (RELATED: Woman Allegedly Stabbed Murder Victim 11 Times, Killed Cat: REPORT)
Murphy “confronted contract workers clearing the right of way for the power company” and that three workers “sustained serious injuries,” the police allege. The YCSO further alleges that when their deputies responded to the scene and tried to apprehend the suspect, he shot at them.
An officer then shot Murphy, according to authorities. The YSCO and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation have opened an investigation into the incident.
Yancey County Sheriff Shane Hilliard writes in a Facebook post that his “thoughts and prayers are with” the victims of the alleged shootings and that he hoped “for a speedy recovery.”
“I am so proud of my incredible deputies and dispatchers! They did an awesome job responding and getting the situation under control quickly,” the sheriff adds.
Murphy was charged “with three counts of Felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon, With Intent to Kill, Inflicting Serious Injury, one count of Assault with a Deadly Weapon Intent to Kill, and four counts of Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Law Enforcement Officers,” the District Attorney’s Office for the 35th Prosecutorial District of North Carolina writes on social media.
The suspect has a previous criminal record and in 2021 was tried for “for the crime of Felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon, With Intent to Kill, Inflicting Serious Injury,” the post reads. The victim of that 2021 incident “was Joshua Murphy, the Defendant’s brother.” Lucas was convicted and sentenced “of the lesser included offense of Misdemeanor Assault with a Deadly Weapon.
