DA: OFFICER JUSTIFIED

A sheriff's deputy's actions in the June 28 shooting of a drug
trafficking suspect were justified, Rockingham County District
Attorney Belinda Foster says.

The suspect, Lamond Duncan, died in the shooting after authorities
entered his home.

In a statement released Monday, Foster said the "case represents a
very dangerous scenario to law enforcement officers, given the
suspect's record of violence and the type of weapons he possessed."

According to a State Bureau of Investigation report reviewed by
Foster, those weapons included a XM-15 semiautomatic assault rifle
loaded with a 30-round magazine and an additional 30-round magazine
found near Duncan, as well as a loaded semiautomatic handgun.

Deputies William Smith and Travis Loftis were part of a sheriff's
office's Special Response Team. The SRT along with officers from the
Eden Police Department and SBI were at Duncan's Ashley Loop Road
home before 6 a.m. to serve two federal "no-knock" warrants charging
Duncan, 30, with distribution of cocaine. The "no-knock" privilege
allowed the officers to enter the home without first identifying
themselves. A judge granted the order based on Duncan's violent history.

Duncan had previously been convicted on several assault charges,
including felony assault on a law enforcement officer, according to
Foster. He also was a suspect in the beating of an elderly woman,
according to the warrants.

Smith was the first officer to enter the home; other SRT members
followed closely.

"Within a few moments of the SRT entering the home, the sole
resident Lamond Duncan fired on the team, hitting Deputy Travis
Loftis in the back," Foster stated in the release.

Smith returned fire, hitting Duncan three times, a medical examiner
and the SBI concluded.

Loftis was critically wounded in the shooting. He was airlifted to
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, where he under went
several surgeries. He suffered damage to his liver and a lung;
doctors removed two ribs, the statement says.

Loftis returned to part-time duty three months later.

Foster said Smith faces no criminal charges and that SBI
investigations into officer-involved shootings are routine.

Foster received the SBI report Oct. 12, according to the N.C.
Attorney General's office.