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Officer placed on leave

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Staff

Preston Oppegard, a Chapel Hill police officer serving as a member of the U.S. Marshal’s Service Joint Fugitive Task Force, was placed on administrative leave last Friday after fatally wounding a Durham man while serving a warrant for his arrest.

The task force was attempting to locate and arrest Jerome Thompkins, a man wanted for three counts of first-degree sex offense involving a child, three counts of indecent liberties with a child and three counts of crime against nature.

Officers located Thompkins at 404 Macon St. in Durham. Upon arrival, Thompkins barricaded himself in a bedroom with a handgun and fired his weapon repeatedly at the officers. Oppegard was forced to fire his weapon out of self-defense, and fatally wounded Thompkins at the scene. No other persons were injured.

As is standard procedure, the Chapel Hill Police Department and the State Bureau of Investigation are conducting an administrative internal investigation into the incident.

1 thought on “Officer placed on leave”

  1. John Avery says:
    January 28, 2011 at 1:16 am

    It’s a shame that an officer is forced to shoot someone, thus saving the life of another officer, and the headline is about him being placed on leave, like he did something wrong. Shouldn’t the headline mention something about him being a hero?

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