By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
CARROLL COUNTY, Va. — A fugitive accused of killing one Virginia sheriff’s deputy and wounding another was captured while standing at the front door of a rural North Carolina home, according to the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation.
“At approximately 8:32 p.m. (Sunday) evening, SBI agents took Michael Puckett into custody in Surry County, at 137 Skyview Lane, Mount Airy. Agents located Puckett and arrested him without incident,” the SBI reported in a Mayt 31 news release.
“SBI Agents, utilizing a drone, located the suspect moving from one location to another and made the arrest as he was ringing the doorbell of the residence. The suspect was still armed at the time of arrest.”
The arrest happened after people in the community were warned to say in their homes and be on the lookout for a shirtless man in green shorts and “wearing an orange horse blanket.”
Puckett had been on the run since Friday, May 29, when Deputy Logan Utt was fatally during a welfare check at a home on Fancy Gap Highway in Carroll County, Virginia.
“Upon arrival, two deputies made contact with a male subject identified as Michael Puckett. During the encounter, Puckett opened fire on the responding deputies. Deputies returned fire,” the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a May 30 Facebook post.
“Both deputies were struck by gunfire. One deputy sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased. The second deputy was struck in his ballistic vest and is currently receiving medical evaluation and is reported to be in stable condition. Michael Puckett fled the scene.”
Deputy Utt joined the department in 2023 and was a husband, father and military veteran, Carroll County officials said.
The shooting led to a multi-state manhunt that came to an end two days later in Surry County, North Carolina.
Puckett was arrested just six miles southeast from where the manhunt began.
Investigators did not reveal what Puckett’s intentions were when he stopped at the home on Skyview Lane northwest of Mount Airy. Maps show the home is in a sparsely populated area on a dead-end road.
Mount Airy is about a 100-mile drive north from uptown Charlotte, near the Virginia state line.
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