WINDSOR, N.C. — A man is dead after a shooting involving deputies with the Bertie County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina.
The shooting happened Tuesday morning at a home on Sierra Lane in Windsor, where deputies were trying to serve 28-year-old Tyshawn Barnes an involuntary commitment order.
The order was issued around 10:35 a.m. because Barnes had threatened to kill a family member and himself, Sheriff Tyrone Ruffin said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Because of a 2019 incident involving Barnes, the deputies who were assigned to carry out the order were aware of him having mental health issues and met at a location near the home and agreed on a plan for approaching the residence with caution, Sheriff Ruffin said.
They arrived at the home just after 12 p.m. and instructed Barnes via a loud speaker to come outside.
Ruffin said that another family member exited the residence with hands up and initially cooperated with law enforcement, but then tried to go back inside. As deputies were dealing with that, Ruffin said Barnes came out with a firearm pointed at law enforcement and looked like he was trying to shoot them. When the gun didn't fire, he went back inside, then came back out and fired the gun, striking law enforcement vehicles.
That's when deputies shot and killed Barnes, Ruffin said.
The three deputies involved in the shooting are on administrative leave while the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation reviews the incident.
The sheriff's office said this was not the first time Barnes had shot at law enforcement. He previously opened fire on Bertie County deputies in 2019. Ruffin said Barnes was taken into custody at that time but eventually released when he was found to be incompetent to stand trial and the case was "disposed of."
"Mental health is a nationwide crisis that we are dealing with, and we are familiar with Barnes having mental health issues," Sheriff Ruffin said.
In recent years, there has been one other shooting involving deputies with the Bertie County Sheriff's Office, in 2021, Ruffin said.
"As law enforcement, we are trying to train for crisis intervention, each incident is different."
Bertie County Sheriff Tyrone Ruffin released a statement, saying, "Mental health illnesses are more rampant than ever across the country, and working to help people in their time of mental crisis is something we work tirelessly for every day. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family members."
