UPDATE: CHEROKEE COUNTY, N.C. (WDEF)- Cherokee County Sheriff Chris Wood says that his department is fortunate no one else was injured in Thursday’s officer-involved shooting incident outside of Peachtree.
Sheriff Wood said, “This is not the outcome that anyone wants. It is not what this deputy wants. It’s not what the sheriff’s office wants for our community.”
He added that this case is a reminder of the dangers of law enforcement, especially less than a year after the late Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputy Francisco Flattes was killed in the line of duty by an inmate.
He said, “It serves as a reminder of the dangers law-enforcement officers face every day while responding to service and protecting the people of Cherokee County. We don’t know if when we suit up it will be our last day.”
The sheriff added that he had seen the bodycam footage of the incident, indicating he believed his deputy acted in a correct manner.
He said that, “My officer had his Axiom body camera on just as our policy says. The entire incident is caught on that bodycam, and I do not suspect that there will be anything that any of you or our community will think this is unusual or suspect in this incident.”
He added that he wishes he could show that body cam footage, but is not allowed by North Carolina state law as only a Superior Court Judge can allow body cam footage to be made public.
Hughes was in custody in Hamilton County Friday afternoon after being arrested by Chattanooga Police, and is awaiting extradition back to Cherokee County.
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EARLIER: CHEROKEE COUNTY, N.C. (WDEF)- A woman was shot by a Cherokee County, North Carolina deputy after their sheriff says she pointed a gun at him.
Cherokee County Sheriff Chris Wood says that they received a call for a welfare check on school aged children at a home on Ferguson Road in Peachtree.
They were further advised that a woman, later identified as 41-year-old Trista Hughes, was pointing a gun at her girlfriend.
When a deputy arrived on scene, Sheriff Wood says he encountered Hughes in a pickup truck, and that she pointed a handgun at him.
The sheriff says that the deputy shot at Hughes multiple times, striking her once in the chest.
She suffered non-life threatening injuries, and the sheriff says she was verbally combative with first responders while being attended to.
She was airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, where the sheriff said Hughes attempted to escape the hospital and was arrested by Chattanooga Police.
Sheriff Wood says that no one else was injured in this incident, and all the kids involved have been attended to.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation will be conducting their own investigation of this incident.
Sheriff Wood says Hughes will be charged with assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, and that more charges may be forthcoming.
