911 call details wife's escape prior to deadly deputy-involved shooting

HICKORY, N.C. — The family of a man shot and killed by a deputy in Caldwell County Monday showed Channel 9 the bullet holes inside the home.

Eyewitness News reporter Dave Faherty obtained the 911 calls from moments before the shots were fired.

The State Bureau of Investigation was in Hickory, overseeing the investigation, where family members said Roy Minton was shot seven times with an assault rifle while inside his home.

Doug Minton showed Faherty where more than a dozen rounds from the deputy's AR-15 tore through the home.

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His brother, Roy, was shot and killed after he pointed a .45 caliber handgun at a sheriff's deputy, SBI officials said.

"It's overkill,” Doug Minton said. “It was excessive force. They had no reason to shoot that many times 20 feet away."

Deputies responded to the home near Granite Falls after receiving a 911 call from Roy's wife.

"He's talking about blowing people's heads off,” Amanda Minton said in the call. “He's threatening to hurt me."

Amanda told dispatchers that her husband was armed with a handgun, had made threats and had been drinking.

The two had been separated since Amanda was charged with assaulting her husband by punching him in the face. The charge was later dismissed, and Tuesday was her first night back at the home.

In the 911 call, Amanda could be heard trying to escape through a window.

"Go on out the window, OK?” the dispatcher told her. “The front porch window. There's going be officers out there, OK?”

Family members said a deputy had gotten the Mintons' 13-year-old son out of the home through a side door seconds before the deputy opened fired with his weapon.

The SBI described that moment as an armed confrontation with the deputy.

Doug Minton said the deputy could’ve acted differently.

"Get off the porch and start calling in the house to have him come out with his hands up,” he said. “Instead of just hollering at him to drop the gun and open fire, like it's a damn war zone."

Other law enforcement officials said hesitating in a moment like that could’ve cost the officer his life.

Once the investigation is complete, the district attorney will review the case.

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