LUMBERTON, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man was holding a toy gun when sheriff’s deputies shot and killed him last weekend, state investigators said.
The Robeson County Sheriff’s Office said deputies believed Matthew Oxendine, 46, of Red Springs was pointing a gun at them when he was killed last Sunday, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation was called in to look into the shooting, which is standard after a law enforcement officer shoots someone.
According to the SBI, its crime scene agents recovered a toy gun from the car Oxendine was in.
The shooting followed a response by deputies to a 911 call from a home in Pembroke. The sheriff’s office said Oxendine set fire to the car he was sitting in when deputies arrived at the house, and as deputies tried to coax him out of the burning vehicle, Oxendine told them he had a weapon and had served time in prison for shooting at police.
Department of Public Safety records show Oxendine was convicted of assaulting a law enforcement officer with a firearm in 2008 and served five years in prison.
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Photo via Facebook/Greg Oxendine.
