Police: Suspect shoots NC officer in jail booking area

The officer was treated and released from a hospital

Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. — A police officer in North Carolina officer was shot by a peeping suspect in the booking area of the county jail, authorities said Monday.

The city of Durham said in a news release that Durham police Officer R.S. Turner saw the suspect reach for a gun in the back of his pants after unlocking his handcuffs in the booking area of the Durham County Detention Facility early Monday.

The officer and 44-year-old Danny McMillen struggled over the gun, which fired once, grazing Turner's abdomen, authorities said. Turner has been released from the hospital.

Turner was responding to a peeping call when he arrested McMillen about 90 minutes earlier, investigators said.

McMillen faces secret peeping, assault with a deadly weapon on a government official and other charges. It wasn't known if he had a lawyer.

A spokeswoman for the Durham County Sheriff's Office said the shooting occurred outside the secure perimeter of the detention facility in an area where each law enforcement agency provides its own security. A detention officer assisted Durham police in an attempt to control the suspect, she said.