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Wake deputy killed was 13-year veteran. ‘We will find who’s responsible,’ sheriff says.

The Wake County Sheriff’s Office has identified the deputy shot in the line of duty Thursday night as Ned Byrd, according to a press conference.

Byrd, a 13-year veteran of the department, was shot multiple times late Thursday night in eastern Wake County, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

The shooting occurred near a gas station on Auburn Knightdale Road and Battle Bridge Road, reported ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner.

“It breaks my heart to report that a member of this office was fatally wounded sometime after 11 o’clock last night in the line of duty,” Sheriff Gerald Baker, his eyes red, said at a news conference Friday, asking for prayers.

“We will find who’s responsible for this loss,” he said.

The circumstances of the deputy’s death have not been released.

Law enforcement officers, watch as a procession leaves the scene where a deputy was shot and killed in eastern Wake County near the intersection of Auburn Knightdale and Battle Bridge Roads Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.
Law enforcement officers, watch as a procession leaves the scene where a deputy was shot and killed in eastern Wake County near the intersection of Auburn Knightdale and Battle Bridge Roads Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.

Recent shootings of NC deputies

Thursday’s shooting happened just a day after a Caswell County sheriff’s deputy was hospitalized with serious injuries after he was shot Wednesday while serving a domestic violence protective order in rural Semora, The News & Observer previously reported.

And one deputy was killed and two injured in Wayne County, 60 miles southeast of Raleigh, on Aug. 1 after they were shot while serving an involuntary commitment order inside a home, The N&O reported. The death of Sgt. Matthew Fishman, 38, was announced the next day in a Facebook post.

In all, six North Carolina law enforcement officers have been shot, two of them fatally, in the last three weeks.

Coffee and cigarettes

Thursday night’s shooting, a 20 minute drive from downtown Raleigh, left residents guessing in the rural southeastern corner of Wake County.

Deputies blocked a portion of Battle Bridge Road near the Marathon gas station that was closed during the shooting.

Wake County Sheriff deputies, work at the scene where a deputy was shot and killed in eastern Wake County near the intersection of Auburn Knightdale and Battle Bridge Road Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.
Wake County Sheriff deputies, work at the scene where a deputy was shot and killed in eastern Wake County near the intersection of Auburn Knightdale and Battle Bridge Road Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.

At roughly 9:30 a.m., a tow truck removed a white Chevrolet SUV from behind police tape. The vehicle did not appear to belong to law enforcement and showed no signs of the shooting.

Residents gathered for coffee and cigarettes outside the Marathon reported hearing nothing around the intersection of Auburn Knightdale Road.

The crime scene is near a neighborhood called The Preserve, close to a law enforcement training center and a county waste collection site.

The road dead-ends at a wastewater treatment plant.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.