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CANTON – An N.C. State Highway Patrol trooper was killed in a shooting during a traffic stop on Interstate 40 near Canton on Tuesday night, authorities said.
Trooper David Shawn Blanton was shot twice, said Lt. A.J. Dickey, with the Highway Patrol in Asheville. Blanton was taken to Mission Hospitals where he later died.
Blanton, of Cherokee, was a two-year veteran of the patrol. He was married and had one child.
First Sgt. S.D. Greene, public information officer for the State Highway Patrol in Raleigh, confirmed early this morning that the trooper had died.
Blanton reported that he had stopped a vehicle at 10:20 p.m. A passerby reported that he had been shot, Greene said.
Dickey said Blanton stopped the eastbound vehicle for a traffic violation, but it’s unknown what the violation was. Blanton got the driver out of the vehicle and an altercation between the driver and Blanton ensued. The man shot Blanton twice, once in the shoulder and another bullet grazed his wrist.
It’s unclear whose gun the man used to shoot the trooper, Dickey said. Blanton was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Dickey did not immediately know the suspect’s name. However, he is from Florida and was driving from Tennessee, Dickey said.
After shooting Blanton, the man fled the scene in his vehicle and immediately exited I-40 on exit 31. He turned left on N.C. Highway 215 where Haywood County Sheriff’s deputies and Canton police officers located him a short distance up the road, Dickey said. He was taken to the Haywood County jail.
Dickey described Blanton as a family man and a “very active trooper.”
“Trooper Blanton was a brave individual and we all know that this could happen,” Dickey said. “But you’ve just got to put it in the back of your head."
The State Bureau of Investigation early this morning was on the scene of the shooting at eastbound exit 31 and was investigating.
“He was changing the world,” Dickey said. “He was just a great kid.”
Trooper David Shawn Blanton was shot twice, said Lt. A.J. Dickey, with the Highway Patrol in Asheville. Blanton was taken to Mission Hospitals where he later died.
Blanton, of Cherokee, was a two-year veteran of the patrol. He was married and had one child.
First Sgt. S.D. Greene, public information officer for the State Highway Patrol in Raleigh, confirmed early this morning that the trooper had died.
Blanton reported that he had stopped a vehicle at 10:20 p.m. A passerby reported that he had been shot, Greene said.
Dickey said Blanton stopped the eastbound vehicle for a traffic violation, but it’s unknown what the violation was. Blanton got the driver out of the vehicle and an altercation between the driver and Blanton ensued. The man shot Blanton twice, once in the shoulder and another bullet grazed his wrist.
It’s unclear whose gun the man used to shoot the trooper, Dickey said. Blanton was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Dickey did not immediately know the suspect’s name. However, he is from Florida and was driving from Tennessee, Dickey said.
After shooting Blanton, the man fled the scene in his vehicle and immediately exited I-40 on exit 31. He turned left on N.C. Highway 215 where Haywood County Sheriff’s deputies and Canton police officers located him a short distance up the road, Dickey said. He was taken to the Haywood County jail.
Dickey described Blanton as a family man and a “very active trooper.”
“Trooper Blanton was a brave individual and we all know that this could happen,” Dickey said. “But you’ve just got to put it in the back of your head."
The State Bureau of Investigation early this morning was on the scene of the shooting at eastbound exit 31 and was investigating.
“He was changing the world,” Dickey said. “He was just a great kid.”