A North Carolina man was fatally shot in a courtroom after he charged at a judge and tried to grab a bailiff’s gun, reports said.
Roxboro resident Christopher Thomas Vaughan flipped out inside the Person County Courthouse on Thursday afternoon after he was found guilty of false imprisonment — yelling and tossing a chair before he moved toward the judge, WRAL reported.
Vaughan then tried to snag the bailiff’s weapon during a struggle with two officers, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement cited by WTVD and other media.
That’s when a Roxboro police officer shot Vaughan in the head, according to reports and the official statement. Vaughan later died at Duke University Hospital, the bureau announced Friday.
The officer broke his hand and the deputy was cut on his neck and head, the bureau said, according to WTVD. The names of the two weren’t released, but authorities said they received medical treatment and had since been released.
Vaughan had been charged with trying to coerce a woman from a Walmart, The News & Observer reported.
The courthouse was closed for the remainder of the day on Thursday as residents of the area were shaken by the shocking incident.
“I didn’t expect something like that to happen in Roxboro,” resident Leslie Evans told KAKE.
“But then again, with all the craziness that’s been happening lately, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” she said.
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