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(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — The Illinois deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her home while responding to her 911 call was discharged from the U.S. Army for “misconduct (serious offense),” according to documents obtained by ABC News.

Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, was discharged on February 24, 2016, after beginning service in the U.S. Army on May 5, 2014. He served for a total of one year, nine months and 19 days, Grayson’s certificate of discharge from active duty shows.

The U.S. Army, citing the Privacy Act and Department of Defense policy, said it is prevented from releasing information relating to the misconduct of low-level employees or characterization of service at discharge.

Grayson was a 91B (Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic) in the Regular Army from May 2014 to February 2016. He had no deployments and left the Army in the rank of private first class, according to an Army spokesman.

ABC News has also learned that Grayson, 30, was charged with two DUI offenses in Macoupin County, Illinois, in August 2015 and July 2016, according to court documents.

Grayson pleaded guilty to both charges. He paid over $1,320 in fines and had his vehicle impounded as a result of the 2015 incident. In 2016, Grayson paid over $2,400 in fines, according to court records.

Grayson’s attorney, Dan Fultz, declined to comment.

According to employment records, Grayson was hired for his first known police job at the Pawnee Police Department in August 2020 and was fired from his most recent job as a sheriff’s deputy at the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department after the July 6 deadly shooting of Massey, a 36-year-old unarmed Black woman and mother of two.

Grayson and a second, unnamed deputy responded to Massey’s 911 call reporting a possible intruder at her Springfield home.

Body camera footage released Monday shows Grayson yelling at Massey to put down a pot of boiling water.

The footage, reviewed by ABC News, shows Massey telling the two responding deputies “please don’t hurt me,” once she answered their knocks on her door.

Grayson responded, “I don’t want to hurt you, you called us.”

Later in the video, while inside Massey’s home as she searched for her ID, Grayson pointed out a pot of boiling water on her stove and said, “we don’t need a fire while we’re in here.”

Massey then poured the water into the sink and told the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

Grayson threatened to shoot her, and Massey apologized and ducked down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rose, and Grayson shot her three times in the face.

The footage is from the point of view of Grayson’s partner. Grayson did not turn on his own body camera until after the shooting, according to court documents.

A review by Illinois State Police found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.

Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death.

The news of his discharge and DUI offenses comes days after it was revealed through Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) records obtained by ABC News that Grayson worked for six law enforcement agencies over the last four years.

Grayson worked three full-time and three part-time jobs in four police departments and two sheriff’s offices over the past four years, all within the state of Illinois, according to ILETSB records.

Grayson held part-time jobs at the Pawnee Police Department from August 2020 to July 2021, the Kincaid Police Department from February 2021 to May 2021, and the Virden Police Department from May 2021 to December 2021.

He also held full-time jobs at the Auburn Police Department from July 2021 to May 2022, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office from May 2022 to April 2023, and the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office from May 2023 to July 2024, according to IILETSB records. He moved around all six of these agencies between 2020 and 2024.

“It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards. Therefore, Sean Grayson’s employment with the Sheriff’s Office has been terminated,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell wrote in a statement last week announcing Grayson’s termination.

The Kincaid Police Department told ABC News that Grayson was let go due to his refusal to live within 10 miles of Kincaid Village. They also said there were no allegations of wrongdoing against Grayson during his time with the department.

According to documents obtained by ABC News, Grayson left his part-time employment at the Pawnee Police Department to pursue a full-time position at the Auburn Police Department. His application to Pawnee Police Department also states that he had previously worked as security guard at Hospital Sisters Health System St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Illinois.

ABC News has reached out to the other police departments to learn why Grayson left, but has not yet received a response.

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(NEW YORK) — Boeing Starliner’s first astronaut-crewed capsule, which launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5, remains docked at the station with no official return date, NASA said Thursday.

“We don’t have a major announcement today relative to a return date,” NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich said during a joint press conference with Boeing officials.

“We’re making great progress, but we’re just not quite ready to do that,” Stich added.

What was initially planned to be an eight-day mission, has now spanned over 50 days, with veteran NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams’ return to Earth delayed until at least August, according to officials.

Thruster failures that caused issues on the launch trip to ISS and helium leaks on the Starliner capsule have led to continued delays, according to Boeing.

The Aerospace giant has been testing the capsule’s propulsion system in White Sands, New Mexico, to identify the cause of the issues, according to Stich, who said analysis of the findings will be done this weekend.

In order to get the go-ahead for a return mission, NASA must review Boeing’s engineering, which may not happen until the first week of August, Stich said.

On June 11, Boeing officials said the capsule was experiencing five “small” helium leaks as its first astronaut-crewed flight test continued.

Helium is used to pressurize the spacecraft’s reaction control system (RCS) maneuvering thrusters, allowing them to fire, according to Boeing.

“Our focus today is to return Butch and Suni on Starliner,” Stich said of the astronauts. “I think we’re starting to close in on those final pieces of the flight rationale to make sure we can come home safely and that’s our primary focus right now.”

Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of the commercial crew program at Boeing, was asked if there were any regrets about the mission.

“I think the only thing we’d do differently, is we would not have been so empathic about an eight-day mission,” Nappi said of the repeated delays. “We kept saying ‘eight-day minimum mission,’ I think we all knew it was going to go longer than that, it’s my regret that we didn’t just say ‘we’re gonna stay up there until we get everything done we want to go do.'”

ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

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(CHICO, Calif.) — A Northern California wildland fire that exploded overnight into the state’s largest blaze this wildfire season, destroying structures and prompting thousands of evacuations, was allegedly started by a man who pushed a burning car into a gully, authorities said Thursday.

The 48-year-old arson suspect charged with starting the Park Fire in Butte County near the city of Chico was arrested Thursday morning and jailed without bail, said Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. The suspect’s name was not immediately released.

The suspect was allegedly spotted just before 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday, pushing a car that was on fire down a gully called “Alligator Hole” in Bidwell Park, near Chico, Ramsey said.

“The car went down an embankment approximately 60 feet and burned completely, spreading flames that caused the Park Fire,” Ramsey said in a statement.

A man who was later identified as the suspect was seen calmly leaving the area by blending in with other park visitors fleeing the rapidly evolving fire, Ramsey said.

The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned next week, Ramsey said.

The Park Fire in Butte County, California, and the Durkee Fire in Oregon, the largest fire burning in the nation, continued filling West Coast skies Thursday with smoke as gusty winds and treacherous terrain were dealing challenges to firefighters battling both blazes, officials said.

Park Fire becomes largest 2024 wildfire in the state

The Park Fire started around 3 p.m. Wednesday northeast of the city of Chico in Bidwell Park and by Thursday afternoon had burned 71,489 acres, destroyed an undetermined number of structures and caused the Butte County Sheriff’s Department to order evacuations for rural foothill communities in the area, including nearly the entire town of Cohasset, which has a population of about 400.

More than 1,100 firefighters were fighting the flames Thursday morning, using helicopters and cutting fire lines with bulldozers in a desperate attempt to prevent the fire from spreading to homes in the densely populated areas of north Chico, authorities said.

The Park Fire was just 3% contained Thursday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

“The fire is well established. Fire personnel are currently focusing on evacuations and structure defense while concurrently building direct containment lines utilizing bulldozers, fire crews and fire engines,” Cal Fire said in an updated statement Thursday morning. “More resources have been ordered and are inbound from various areas throughout Northern California.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

At least 3,800 people were under evacuation orders in Butte and Tehama counties, officials said.

The Park Fire rapidly grew into the state’s largest conflagration this wildfire season, surpassing the Lake Fire near Santa Barbara in Southern California that started on July 5. As of Thursday morning, the Lake Fire had burned 38,664 and was 90% contained, according to Cal Fire. The blaze destroyed four structures and left at least six firefighters injured, Cal Fire reported.

The Butte County blaze was one of 64 new fires that erupted in California Wednesday, according to Cal Fire.

Rick Carhart, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, told ABC News Thursday that hot temperatures and steep, rugged terrain in the burning area are making things difficult for firefighters.

Carhart — who described the fire activity as “dynamic” — said the temperature in the area this week has been 100 to 110 degrees.

Officials said that in the first 12 hours of the fire, flames were burning 4,000 acres per hour.

“It’s very, very hot. It’s bone dry and pretty much every spark that hits the ground is going to start a fire,” Carhart said.

He said the area where the fire is most active hasn’t burned in 20 years, providing an abundance of dry vegetation that is feeding the blaze.

Cal Fire officials said the number of acres burned so far in this wildfire season is 15 times more than at this time in 2023. There have been nearly 800 more fires this year compared to last, including 54 that resulted in arson arrests, according to Cal Fire, in

Durkee fire is largest in the nation

In Oregon, the Durkee Fire in Baker County, which was sparked by a lightning strike on July 17, had grown to nearly 270,000 acres, or about 400 square miles, as of Thursday morning. The fire burning near the Idaho border was 0% contained and had spread into neighboring Malheur County, according to the Oregon Fire Marshal’s Office.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced on Wednesday that she has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act to increase resources to battle the Durkee Fire and the Battle Mountain Complex Fire, which consists of three active fires that have burned a total of about 64,000 in the same area of Umatilla County in Eastern Oregon.

Kotek said she has also deployed the National Guard to the Durkee and Battle Mountain fires.

Kotek said in a statement that resources necessary for fighting the fires are beyond local capabilities.

“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power. The situation is dynamic, and the teams on the ground are taking it day by day. I have deployed resources from the National Guard that are currently serving eastern and southwestern Oregon. I know these communities are supporting one another, doing their part to heed the guidance from officials and showing tremendous gratitude for our firefighters.”

Kotek said the Durkee fire has merged with another large fire in the area, the Cow Valley Fire, creating one monster-size blaze.

The Baker County Sheriff’s Office said evacuation orders for residents living in the fire zone, including all 500 residents of the town of Huntington.

During a community briefing Wednesday night, fire officials said the Durkee fire was burning so hot it had created its own weather system.

Jonathan Chriest, a National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the Durkee fire, said at a briefing that wind gusts fanning the fire were expected to reach 75 mph Wednesday night.

Temperatures in the area have been in the high 90s to triple-digits. Chriest said a cold front was moving into the area of the Durkee Fire that could lower temperatures through the weekend but could bring northwest winds of 30 to 45 mph and flash flooding.

“That fire has just not cooperated with us in terms of the weather. I don’t like making excuses and I don’t like fires outpacing me, so that’s a hard thing to admit,” Tyson Albrecht of the U.S. Forest Service, the incident commander on the Durkee Fire for Northwest Team 6, said at the briefing. “This fire and the weather that we’ve been experiencing has been really challenging. It will continue to challenge us, but we will continue to keep swinging away out there to minimize those impacts.”

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(ATLANTA) — Special counsel Jack Smith’s opening brief appealing the dismissal of former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case is due on Aug. 27, according to a briefing notice Thursday from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Smith last week filed an official notice of appeal after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, in a surprise decision, dismissed Trump’s classified documents case.

Cannon dismissed the case on the grounds that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional because he was not appointed by the president or confirmed by Congress.

In a statement following the ruling, a spokesperson with the special counsel’s office said, “The dismissal of the case deviates from the uniform conclusion of all previous courts to have considered the issue that the Attorney General is statutorily authorized to appoint a Special Counsel.”

Based on the briefing schedule in the court’s notice, Trump and his co-defendants’ response to Smith’s opening brief will be due around late September, and Smith’s reply will be due in mid-October.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.

Trump has denied all charges and denounced the probe as a political witch hunt.

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(UVALDE, Texas) — A former Uvalde, Texas, school district police officer pleaded not guilty to the 29 counts against him on Thursday as families of the Robb Elementary School victims looked on.

Two teachers and 19 students were killed in the May 24, 2022, mass shooting. Law enforcement waited some 77 minutes at the scene before breaching a classroom and killing the gunman.

Former Uvalde school district police officer Adrian Gonzales faces 29 charges of abandoning and failing to protect children: 19 for the 19 children killed and 10 for the children who survived in classroom 112.

The indictment alleges that despite having time to respond to the shooting, Gonzales failed to act to impede the gunman and failed to follow active shooter training by not advancing toward the gunfire.

Over 30 survivors and victims’ families watched in the courtroom on Thursday as Gonzales pleaded not guilty.

The families included the parents of 10-year-old victim Tess Mata, the parents of 9-year-old victim Jackie Cazares and the parents of survivor Khloie Torres.

“It’s not that we want to be here — we just feel like we have to,” Tess’ mom, Veronica Mata, told ABC News after the hearing. “We’re here ’cause we have to be here for Tess.”

Tess’ dad, Jerry Mata, said while he feels more than two officers should have been indicted, he hopes this is the start of accountability.

“The emotions right now are so high,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

Gonzales’ defense attorney, Nico LaHood, told reporters, “We have not seen any evidence that would lead us to believe that Mr. Gonzales is guilty of these allegations. … All he did was show up to try to help those children.”

“There was over 370 officers there. We have not seen or even heard of a theory of why Mr. Gonzales is being singled out,” LaHood said.

Gonzales is due to return to court on Sept. 16.

The former school district police chief, Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander the day of the shooting, was arrested last month on the same charges as Gonzales. He has also pleaded not guilty.

The indictment alleges that, after hearing shots fired, Arredondo failed to identify the situation as an active shooter, failed to respond as trained, and instead, called SWAT, thereby delaying the response by law enforcement.

The indictment also alleges he chose to negotiate with the gunman instead of engaging; failed to timely provide keys and breaching tools; failed to determine if the classroom door was locked; failed to follow the school district’s active shooter policy; and failed to develop an immediate action plan.

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In a recorded interview with investigators one day after the shooting, Arredondo said he did not view himself as the incident commander, contrary to the active shooter plan he devised.

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(NEW YORK) — One of the two men shot and injured in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has been released from the hospital, officials said.

David Dutch, 57, was discharged on Wednesday, Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh said.

Dutch was shot in the chest and liver and was initially in a medically induced coma after the shooting, according to the Marine Corps League of Pennsylvania.

Dutch is a former Marine who serves as commandant of his Marine Corps League detachment, the organization said.

“David and our entire family are especially grateful to all the first responders and medical professionals who saved his life, including the Life Flight and trauma surgical teams,” his family said in a statement last week. “We also offer our deepest condolences and prayers for the other victims of this tragic event and their families.”

The second man who was shot and injured, James Copenhaver, 74, remains in the hospital in serious but stable condition, according to Allegheny General Hospital.

“Jim would like to especially thank the first responders, medics, and hospital staff who have provided him with initial and continuing care,” his family said in a statement last week. “Additionally, Jim would like to express his thoughts and prayers for the other victims, their families, and President Trump. He prays for a safe and speedy recovery for them all.”

The man killed at the Trump rally, firefighter Corey Comperatore, died shielding his family from the gunfire, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said.

Comperatore, 50, leaves behind his wife and two daughters.

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(NEW YORK) — The Border Patrol has made fewer than 1,800 apprehensions per day over the past week, a major decline following the implementation of new asylum restrictions that significantly cut humanitarian protections for those who cross the border illegally.

Migrant encounters along the southern border are down 55% since the restrictions took effect seven weeks ago, according to new data from the Department of Homeland Security.

The Border Patrol made 83,536 apprehensions in June, the lowest number since Biden took office in Jan. 2021.

DHS officials credit a dual-track approach that balances increased enforcement measures along with the expansion of new options for legal migration. The measures, announced at the beginning of last month, all but banned asylum for those who crossed into the U.S. illegally. Meanwhile, at U.S. ports of entry, the administration continues to admit a limited number of pre-screened migrants for asylum processing.

“So it’s the kind of culmination of a yearslong effort to build up both of those things, and I think that we are really seeing that pay dividends,” one senior Customs and Border Protection Official said.

“We’ve been kind of building up both enforcement at the border and access to lawful pathways since, since we started here,” the official added.

The official said the White House has been directly involved in this effort, including Vice President Kamala Harris herself, to craft the strategy that has brought illegal border crossings down dramatically.

“I think we’ve, we’ve got some real positive impacts here, and we’re also continuing to work to maximize them, and to double down on these efforts, both ourselves and in coordination with our foreign partners, to not only maximize enforcement at our border, but to disrupt the way that people are moving up and getting to our border,” the official said.

DHS continues to engage in an aggressive deportation effort, removing or voluntarily returning 65,000 individuals to more than 125 countries, with more than 200 international repatriation flights in recent weeks, according to DHS. The number of people released into the U.S. pending deportation proceedings has declined by 70%, officials say.

The San Diego region continues to see the highest level of migrant encounters compared to other border regions, but those numbers have reduced by 60% in recent weeks, according to a senior CBP official.

“So we’re really now, just now, starting to see the full impact out there,” the official told ABC News. “And I think that’s definitely an indication of success, and also something that we continue to work to even see if we can achieve further results.”

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(NEW YORK) — In early July, a man wearing a gator face mask, sunglasses, and camera equipment attached to a vest walked into the elections building in King County, Washington, and began to take videos and photos of the employees and their surroundings.

The man, according to a video obtained by ABC News, approached a counter and began harassing the election workers as he recorded them with his equipment.

After he left, the man posted a video of the interaction on YouTube and published some of the staff’s names, emails, and phone numbers, which officials said resulted in “dozens of calls and emails” to election workers.

The incident, which left King County employees feeling uneasy, is an example of the ongoing harassment and threats election workers are facing as they prepare for November’s election.

Experts and election workers say the threats began after baseless claims of election fraud proliferated following the 2020 election, and they have not slowed down. And with the potential misuse of artificial intelligence and the threat of deadly opioids being mailed to election offices, election workers ABC News spoke with said they are feeling even more unnerved.

The concerns from election workers come months after former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss won a $148 million judgment after a judge found former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani guilty of defaming them. In an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran in 2022, the mother and daughter described how threats of violence, both online and in person, temporarily drove Freeman from her home and drove them both from their work as election officers.

“Election workers are still dealing with a lot of lies that are being told about the elections, and are in many ways bearing the kind of the consequences of those lies with harassment, abuse and sometimes threats,” said Lawrence Norden, senior director of the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, a bipartisan public policy think tank.

Stocking up on Narcan

Last August, when King County received an envelope with a suspicious substance in the mail, it also came with an unsettling message: “Enjoy some complimentary WHITE POWDER! Not saying what it is but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ASKING AROUND FOR A NARCAN!”

“There must be: NO MORE ELECTIONS!” the letter said.

After law enforcement confirmed the envelope contained traces of fentanyl, election officials in the county implemented robust safety protocols and stocked up on Narcan — a drug that’s sprayed directly into the nostrils of someone experiencing an overdose by touching or inhaling an opioid, which blocks the effects of opioids and can quickly restore breathing.

Two months later, the county was targeted again with another letter in an envelope that was also laced with the deadly opioid.

“It was terrifying,” said Julie Wise, the director of elections for King County.

After election offices in four other states received envelopes with fentanyl and other dangerous substances last year, election workers added Narcan to the safety measures they’re implementing heading into the election.

In Washoe County, Nevada, interim registrar of voters Cari Anne Burgess told ABC News the county has 35 kits of Narcan.

“We absolutely have our Narcan kits,” Burgess said. “We’ve all been trained on it and we’ve also been trained on ‘Stop the Bleed.'”

“Fentanyl is of big concern these days,” said Josh Zygielbaum, the clerk and recorder for Adams County, Colorado. “We now have Narcan everywhere, and have changed our mail-opening processes due to some concerns that we could be a target for potential biological or chemical threat.”

Zygielbaum said that since the 2020 election, he has worn a bulletproof vest to work every day — an extreme measure he felt he had to take to feel safe.

“It’s sad, but I love what I do,” Zygielbaum said. “Without having safe and secure elections, we don’t have a democracy. And so it really is the front line of the fight to preserve democracy.”

Fighting the threat of AI

While election officials work to combat physical threats, experts say artificial intelligence could potentially pose an even greater danger to the electoral process.

In January, AI-generated robocalls that appeared to impersonate the voice of President Joe Biden targeted voters in New Hampshire to discourage them from voting in the primary.

“The threat from AI is potentially a change in the degree of what [election workers] have seen before,” Norden from the Brennan Center told ABC News.

Zygielbaum, who said he is increasingly concerned about AI, said his county has been working with local schools that have STEM programs to learn more about the technology and how to make voters more aware of its dangers.

In King County, Wise told ABC News that AI has been a boon to the county’s election operation — but she’s still concerned about its misuse.

“AI has allowed us to save at least $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to use towards translation services,” Wise said. “So there’s certainly pros and cons to this technology and it’s definitely been a big conversation in the election community nationwide.”

At the same time, Wise, said, “We’re poised really well to react to any mis- or disinformation that can result from AI.”

Wise and other officials told ABC News that the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is working with election workers across the country to teach them about AI and how to identify potential threats and disinformation created with the technology.

According to a report from the Brennan Center, AI has the potential to threaten election security not only by more effectively spreading disinformation, but also by more easily exploiting cyber vulnerabilities in election systems.

“The misinformation, the threats, the attempts to intimidate election officials — that all existed before,” said Norden. “It’s just that now, AI makes it easier to do at a larger scale and in a more sophisticated way.”

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(LAS VEGAS) — A tourist from Belgium has been hospitalized in Las Vegas after suffering third-degree burns to his feet while walking on sand dunes in Death Valley, officials said.

The 42-year-old man was wearing flip flops when officials from the National Park Service said that they either broke or he lost them in the sand last Saturday at the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

Air temperatures were 123 degrees at the time, but park officials say that the sand temperatures would have been much hotter.

“The man’s family called for help and recruited other park visitors who carried the man to the parking lot,” according to the NPS statement. “Park rangers determined the man needed to be transported to a hospital quickly due to his burns and pain level.”

Mercy Air’s helicopter was not able to safely land in Death Valley due to extreme temperatures which can reduce rotor lift so park rangers initially transported the victim by ambulance to a landing zone at a higher elevation, which was 109 degrees. From there, the Belgian tourist was taken by Mercy Air to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas where he is being treated for his injuries.

“Park rangers recommend that summer travelers to Death Valley National Park stay within a 10 minute walk of an air conditioned vehicle, not hike after 10 a.m., drink plenty of water, eat salty snacks and wear a hat and sunscreen,” said the National Park Service following the incident.

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(NEW YORK) — A man shot three tree workers while they were clearing trees for a power company before being shot himself by police officers during his arrest, police said.

The incident began near Murphytown, North Carolina, located in the Green Mountain area of Yancey County, when local resident 36-year-old Lucas Wilson Murphy confronted contract workers clearing the right of way for the power company, according to a statement from the Yancey County Sheriff’s Office released on Wednesday.

“Mr. Murphy was armed during the confrontation with the tree service workers, and subsequently, three workers were shot,” authorities said in their statement. “All three victims sustained serious injuries and were transported to area hospitals where they are receiving medical treatment.”

Yancey County Deputies immediately responded to the scene and began to exchange gunfire with Murphy as they attempted to arrest him.

“During this exchange, an officer-involved shooting took place, resulting in Mr. Murphy sustaining an injury,” police said. “He was then immediately taken into custody. Murphy was transported to an area hospital, where he is being treated for his injury.”

Authorities did not release any possible motives in the case but the Yancey County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation confirmed that they are conducting a thorough investigation into the incident.

“I want to start out by saying that my thoughts and prayers are with the Asplundh victims of today’s shooting for a speedy recovery. I am so proud of my incredible deputies and dispatchers! They did an awesome job responding and getting the situation under control quickly,” said Yancey County Sheriff Shane Hilliard in a post on social media following the shooting. “I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Heritage EMS, the out-of-county EMS departments, fire departments, rescue squad, and the other law enforcement agencies that sent personnel to assist.”

The conditions of the three workers are currently unknown and additional information will be released as it becomes available.

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