WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — Newly released search warrants obtained and first reported by the News & Observer have reveled what happened in the moments leading up of the killing of Wake County deputy Ned Byrd in August.
According to documents, Byrd was heading toward the Wake County Law Enforcement Training Center for K9 training when he spotted a suspicious pickup on the side of Battle Bridge Road on August 11, according to WTVD.
Byrd drove past the truck around 11 p.m. but then stopped, backed up and got out of his patrol vehicle. The search warrants say 13 seconds after Byrd got out of his patrol vehicle, three gunshots rang out. After a brief pause, three more shots were fired, WTVD reported.
About 90 seconds later, the suspicious pickup truck that caused Byrd to stop drives away from the scene.
WTVD reports Wake County Sheriff’s Office sent deputies to check on Byrd a few hours later. That’s when they found him dead next to his car with multiple gunshot wounds, including a shot to the back of his head, according to the search warrants.
Investigators used cellphone tower data to link two suspects to the crime scene when the shooting took place. Alder Marin-Sotelo, 25, and Arturo Marin-Sotelo, 29, were taken into custody August 16 in Burke County and charged in Byrd’s killing.
Reporter Dave Faherty was at the scene on Interstate 40 where the two people were taken into custody. Faherty later saw the two people being taken into the Burke County Sheriff’s Office. He said there were a dozen federal marshals, and FBI and SBI agents, at the sheriff’s office.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tells Channel 9 the brothers were in the country illegally.
If convicted, WTVD reports the two could face the death penalty or life in prison. They have pleaded not guilty in the case.
(WATCH BELOW: Driver shot by York County deputy after ramming patrol cars dies, sheriff says)
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