Greensboro police process the scene after Sgt. Philip Dale Nix was shot to death while trying to stop a crime in progress at a North Carolina gas station around 4 p.m. Dec. 30. Three people were arrested. (WRAL/YouTube)
Authorities have arrested three people in the murder of an off-duty police officer who was shot and killed while trying to stop a larceny in progress at a gas station.
It happened around 4 p.m. Saturday at a Sheetz gas station in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Greensboro police Chief John Thompson said Sgt. Philip Dale Nix saw a crime happening and approached the suspects. Nix was then shot. Another off-duty Greensboro police officer and a Guilford County paramedic provided medical care. First responders rushed Nix to the hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. Thompson did not release other details about what led up to the shooting.
“He was a loving husband, father, son and brother with 23 years of service to the department,” an emotional Thompson said during a press conference.
Thompson on Sunday announced the arrest of three people: Jamere Justice Foster, 18, Z’quriah Le’Pearce Blackwell, 18, and John Walter Morrison, 28. Foster is facing charges of first-degree murder, larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny. Blackwell was arrested on charges of accessory after the fact of first-degree murder. Morrison is charged with accessory after the fact of first-degree murder, larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny.
Foster and Morrison are in jail without bond while Blackwell has a $500,000 bond. Additional charges could be added.
Thompson supervised the family victims unit and served as the assistant team leader of the department’s honor guard. He previously worked as a detective in the criminal investigations division and a patrol corporal and sergeant.
“Words are inadequate right now,” Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughn said at the press conference. “There is really nothing that I can say that’s going to give the families or the officers any comfort. What happened today was a senseless act of violence and we have to remember that.”
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