Search fatalities

Michael Shope

Age : 42

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/19/2024

Location : Harmon Den Horse Camp

City : Canton

County : Haywood

State : North Carolina

Agency : Haywood County Sheriff's Office

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during attempted arrest

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 12/20/2024, Michael Anthony Shope, 42, was shot and killed by a Haywood County sheriff’s deputy near the Harmon Den Horse Camp in the Pisgah National Forest. At approximately 3:00 p.m., deputies responded to a report of a suspicious person in the remote Harmon Den area.
.
Shope had been reported missing earlier in December. Fletcher police said Shope and his 9-year-old daughter were last seen on December 3 at the Budget Motel on Underwood Road in Fletcher. Police had issued an endangered-person alert and reported that Shope might be experiencing a mental health crisis. His daughter was subsequently located safe.
.
According to the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, Shope was armed with a knife when a deputy encountered him at Harmon Den. The Sheriff’s Office alleged that Shope attacked the deputy with the knife. Police reported that the deputy’s protective vest prevented serious injury and that Shope continued the alleged attack before the deputy fired his service weapon, striking him.
.
Emergency medical personnel responded and pronounced Shope dead at the scene. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation into the fatal shooting. The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office was also coordinating with Fletcher police because of their earlier missing-person investigation involving Shope and his daughter.
.
OFFICER BACKGROUND
.
The Haywood County sheriff’s deputy who shot Shope has not been publicly identified.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.foxcarolina.com/2024/12/21/deputies-missing-man-killed-deputy-involved-shooting-haywood-county/
https://www.foxcarolina.com/2024/12/12/police-searching-missing-man-9-year-old-daughter/
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/man-shot-and-killed-after-attacking-deputy-with-knife-in-rural-harmon-den/article_40302068-c0af-11ef-a629-4b9ff9e13e27.html