Clinton officers on leave after shooting man who police gun at them

Multiple police officers in Clinton are on leave Thursday after fatally shooting a man who officers say pointed a gun at them.

Around 1 a.m., officers arrived to the 100 block of Dogwood Circle in response to a reported assault.

A woman said a man armed with a handgun had attacked her, using the weapon to strike her head and face. She described his appearance to officers and warned them he was hiding inside the house and still armed.

While searching the home, officers found the man hiding in a closet. At around 1:41 a.m., the man pointed a handgun at officers, who say they returned fire, fatally striking the suspect.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity is being withheld by police pending notifying his family.

No officers were injured.

WRAL News spoke with community activists like Diondris Butler, founder of Resilient Advocates, who want to know if the shooting was necessary.

"If they had the body cameras on, we would be able to see exactly what happened and be able to see if it was justified or not," Butler said. "So it’s very, very important to me."

The Clinton Police Department has requested the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to conduct an investigation into the details of the shooting. The Department’s Internal Affairs Unit will also conduct an administrative investigation into the shooting.

All officers involved have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of these investigations. Additional details will be released at a later date as they become available.

A total of seven people were killed Thursday morning in Sampson County.

Five people were shot and killed at a Sampson County home. Another body was found Thursday morning in Sampson County, and the sheriff's office is investigating it as a homicide – but this investigation is not related to the previous homicide.