Man charged with murder in shooting of North Carolina deputy

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Authorities in North Carolina charged a man with murder Thursday in the fatal shooting of a sheriff’s deputy last week.

Arturo Marin-Sotelo is charged in the Aug. 11 killing of Wake County Deputy Ned Byrd, Sheriff Gerald Baker said during a news briefing.

Lt. Walter Adams said the investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are expected. He urged anyone with information about the shooting to call the sheriff’s office.

Baker identified Marin-Sotelo as “one of the suspects” authorities believe were involved in Byrd’s killing. The sheriff’s office did not provide any biographical information about Marin-Sotelo or describe his alleged role in Byrd’s shooting. The sheriff’s office did not take any questions at the news conference, citing the active nature of the investigation.

During Marin-Sotelo’s first appearance in court on Thursday, a judge appointed an attorney for him and ordered him to be held without bail.

District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said she expects to see another man charged with murder this week. She said she will decide in the next 90 days whether her office will seek the death penalty or life in prison in the case.

Byrd, 48, was a K-9 officer who had been with the sheriff’s office for 13 years. Baker said Byrd was killed after stopping along a dark stretch of road late at night.

Sherriff’s Office spokesman Eric Curry said earlier that evening, Byrd had responded to a domestic call less than a mile away and then entered his notes into the system. When Byrd didn’t respond to several attempts to check in, another deputy was sent to check and found Byrd shot outside his vehicle with his K-9 still inside the vehicle, Curry said.

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