Associated Press
WILLIAMSTON, N.C. (AP) - A kidnapping suspect was shot and killed by local law officers after he struggled on the ground with a police
dog and reached for a gun, police and witnesses said.
Tarik Kondwani Rodgers, 26, of Williamston jumped out of his Mitsubishi Diamante after a collision with a pursuing cruiser about 2 a.m.
Monday, about four hours after he allegedly kidnapped his former girlfriend. The woman, Angela Freeman, was in the car with Rodgers.
Officers shot him in a car wash parking lot after he “got out of his car and produced a handgun,” police said.
Williamston Police Sgt. Billy Waters and Martin County Deputy Walter Farrow were placed on administrative leave pending a probe of the
shooting by the State Bureau of Investigation. Neither department would say how the officers were involved.
Freeman said officers fired several rounds while Rodgers struggled on the ground with a police dog. She said she saw Rodgers reach for a
gun in his pants. She believed he was trying to protect himself from the dog.
“The police were all just standing there. They didn’t try to get the dog off of him,” Freeman said. “Tarik reached for his gun, but I think that
he was just going to shoot the dog. That’s when one of the officers shot him.”
Investigators would not comment on Freeman’s account. Residents who lived nearby offered stories that varied in detail.
Several said Farrow fired six or more shots while Rodgers struggled with the dog. Waters handles the dog.
Leonard Atkins, who lives directly across from the car wash, said he went to his window after he heard the crash. He said he saw Rodgers
leave the car with his hands up when the police dog attacked him.
He said Rodgers was attempting to fight the dog when the sheriff’s deputy fired his gun.
“The dog was still on him when they were shooting,” Atkins said.
Rodgers abducted Freeman at gunpoint from her home about 10 p.m. Sunday, police said. Witnesses told officers that Rodgers threatened
Freeman’s cousin and a friend with a pistol and left with the woman.