Five dead, including deputies, in N Carolina standoff: Sheriff

Wellness check leads to heavily-armoured standoff, deaths in North Carolina.

Five people are dead after a nearly 13-hour standoff in North Carolina following a wellness check on a person who did not report to work, a sheriff’s office said Thursday. Two deputies were killed and three other people including a suspected gunman were found dead following the lengthy shoot-out in Boone, a small city in the Appalachian mountain range. The Watauga County Sheriff’s office said Sergeant Chris Ward and K-9 Deputy Logan Fox were dispatched to a home in Boone at 9:44am local (13:44 GMT) Wednesday after the homeowner and his family didn’t report to work or answer telephone calls. Both were hit by gunfire.