A North Carolina police officer was shot and killed Saturday morning during a struggle inside the emergency department lobby of a WakeMed hospital facility, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 9 a.m. at the WakeMed Garner Healthplex, a hospital located just south of Raleigh. WakeMed identified the slain officer as Campus Police Officer Roger Smith, a member of its internal police force.
According to a statement from the Garner Police Department, a “person of interest” connected to the shooting has been taken into custody. Investigators from both local and state agencies are working with hospital officials to determine what led to the deadly altercation.
WakeMed confirmed that the emergency department lobby was closed following the incident. Details about the confrontation or the suspect’s motive were not immediately released.
“Law enforcement officers put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe, and we are forever grateful for Officer Smith’s sacrifice,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Garner, a city of about 31,000 residents, sits just southeast of the state capital of Raleigh. The WakeMed Police Department provides law enforcement services across six facilities in the hospital network, including the Garner Healthplex. The department’s officers are fully sworn under North Carolina law and receive the same level of training as municipal and county police officers.
Smith’s death marks one of the few fatal shootings involving hospital police in North Carolina in recent years and underscores the risks faced by medical facility officers who handle both public safety and patient security duties.
