MURPHY, N.C. (WDEF)- Tragedy struck Cherokee County, North Carolina on Monday.
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Officer Francisco Flattes. Flattes was killed in the line of duty on Monday, while transporting an inmate to a medical appointment.
Now a memorial stands in his honor in front of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith said, “Yesterday was a horrible day for our county and for law enforcement as a whole.”
Sheriff Smith says that Officer Flattes, along with officer George Feinauer, was transporting inmate Kelvin Simmons to a medical appointment at Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital in Peachtree on Monday.
This is he says when Simmons stole a gun in a scuffle and shot both deputies, killing Officer Flattes, then stole their vehicle.
He led law enforcement from Cherokee into Clay and Macon Counties, eventually being stopped after a PIT maneuver.
Simmons was in custody for a previous escape attempt from the Cherokee County Jail last October, and is now being held at the Buncombe County Jail in Asheville on First Degree Murder Charges.
He was arraigned on the first degree murder charge in Swain County Tuesday.
The North Carolina Bureau of Investigation and the FBI will be tasked with the investigation into this incident.
Sheriff Smith says that everyone is stunned at what occurred.
“That’s something this agency and community has not been through in modern history,” he said.
He says his staff is getting help from neighboring and state agencies, and is planning to bring in counselors.
Across Murphy and the state of North Carolina, flags were ordered at half staff by Governor Josh Stein, who wished his condolences to Cherokee County.
Sheriff Smith says that Officer Flattes, who was 56 years old and had worked for four years for his office as a Sergeant, will be dearly missed.
He reminisced, “He was a great guy. His smile, anytime you come into a room, his smile would light up the whole room, and he had a very unique laugh, his laugh would kind of fill the whole room, and he would make it a point to come talk to you and smile whenever you would walk into a room.”
The sheriff has one ask for those wishing to help during this difficult time.
Sheriff Smith asks, “You know the biggest thing that we ask is for prayers for the Flattes family and also for the Sheriff’s Office and our community, making sure we lift up the family in prayers is going to be huge in the days ahead.”
Arrangements for his funeral and other public services are pending at this time.
We at News 12 send our thoughts and prayers to the Flattes family and the Cherokee County community.
