The Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Police arrested a 22-year-old man late Tuesday night and charged him with murder in the shooting death early last Friday of a Winston-Salem police officer. A large crowd had gathered during the fight, and police had a difficult time determining who was responsible for the shooting.
Keith Antoine Carter was taken into custody about 11 p.m. and charged in connection with the death of police Sgt. Howard Plouff.
Carter is being held in the Forsyth County Jail, with no bond allowed. His first court hearing is set for March 16.
Plouff was shot to death while trying to break up a fight in the parking lot of a bar. His funeral drew hundreds of mourners Tuesday at Holy Family Catholic Church in Clemmons.
Police told the Winston-Salem Journal that Carter told them he is a student at Winston-Salem State University, but they have not been able to confirm that.
Police Capt. David Clayton, head of the Winston-Salem department’s criminal investigation division, told the Associated Press that the arrest followed several days of intense detective work.
“We dug and dug and dug and found the right people, and we were able to make a break in the case,” Clayton told the Associated Press. “We just continued to talk to people who were at the club on the night this occurred, and as a result of that determined he was there and his involvement.”
Plouff, 41, was the first Winston-Salem police officer killed on active duty since 1995.
He and other officers were called early Friday to the Red Rooster, after sheriff’s deputies working as off-duty security officers asked for help to deal with a series of fights.
Gunshots were fired from within the crowd during the brawl, and one shot struck Plouff. Eight guns were seized and three men arrested on weapons charges, the Associated Press reported.
The Winston-Salem Journal said police received a number of tips through the Crime Stoppers program, and that several of those tips helped with the investigation.
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The Associated Press