A man accused of shoplifting from a store in Apex was shot and killed by an agent with the State Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday afternoon, according to the town’s police department.
Around 1:30 p.m., officers responded to Academy Sports and Outdoors in the 1150 block of Pine Plaza Drive and found one man and one woman involved in the incident along with the officer.
In a press conference, Apex Chief Jeremy Armstrong said the unidentified man was found on the ground with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries, police said.
Armstrong said the incident started inside the store. The woman allegedly tried to steal a box of ammunition from a counter. She and the man ran out of the store with the stolen box, but ran into the SBI agent in the parking lot.
“The SBI agent encountered the two individuals in the parking lot and that is when the shooting occurred,” Armstrong said. “The SBI agent was the individual who shot the male in this interaction.”
There was another weapon found next to the victim, and Armstrong said police believe it belonged to the man.
Police haven’t released the identities of the man, the SBI agent or the woman.
The woman was also taken to the hospital for evaluation but was not injured.
Armstrong said police are still investigating the ownership of the weapon and the incident. He has reached out to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman and SBI leadership to “make sure we handle this with the utmost sensitivity since it was an officer-involved shooting.”
Armstrong said Freeman requested the Apex Police Department take the lead on the investigation.