On Saturday, September 10, 2016, a Shelby Police Officer was fatally shot in Shelby, North Carolina. The Police Officer, Tim Brackeen, had went to a residence to serve warrants on twenty-three year old, Irving Lucien Fenner Jr., early Saturday morning. Lucien had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court for misdemeanor charges for carrying a concealed weapon and marijuana possession. According to Investigators, Officer Brackeen and Lucien had gotten into a struggle when Brackeen had tried to serve the warrants. The struggle ended with Officer Brackeen being shot in the chest.
Even though Brackeen had on a bulletproof vest at the time of the shooting,it left him severely injured. Lucien fled the scene immediately after wounding and sending Brackeen to the hospital. Police were unable to locate Lucien and shortly after began a manhunt by foot and air. While suffering in the hospital, Brackeen managed to pull through the weekend. Early Monday morning at 11:42 a.m., Brackeen passed away. The charges that Lucien was facing was attempted murder, but has now changed to first-degree murder.
Ashely Michelle Hamrick of Shelby was also arrested in connection to the Shelby Shooting on felonies of harboring an escapee. Lucien at the time was living with Hamrick at the time he was arrested. Another woman was also arrested in connection to the shooting but it is unaware at this time how she was aiding Lucien. The DA in the case is wanting to get the death penalty for Lucien.
In the end, it is very sad that people can injure someone so severely while they are just trying to do their job. Officer Brackeen had no intentions of hurting Lucien in any way, but was in fact, doing what he was told. People need to realize that Police Officers are not always the "bad guy". They have families that they want to go home to every day and every night but because of people like Lucien they are unable to do so. If you do a crime then you should pay the consequences, you should not take someone else's life because you do not want to take the punishment for what you have done.
As a nation, we need to work together when it comes to cases like this. We need to protect everyone and avoid cases like this one. We should thank the Police Officers for putting their lives on the line for ours every day like Officer Brackeen did.
