The man who killed his elderly parents before opening fire and killing two North Carolina sheriffs deputies before then killing himself has been identified.
Isaac Alton Barnes, 32, is accused of killing his mother Michelle Annette Ligon, 61, and stepfather George Wyatt Ligon, 58, WJHL reported.
(tactical van pictured from Wednesday)
He then began a 13-hour shootout with deputies from Boone County Sheriff’s Office who responded to the home in Boone for a welfare check Wednesday morning.
Two of those cops, Sgt. Chris Ward and K-9 Deputy Logan Fox, were shot and killed. A third deputy escaped uninjured.
After the massacre, Sheriff Len Hagaman told WRAL that people who knew Barnes had called law enforcement last weekend to warn them that he was dangerous and had ‘a lot of guns.’
Hagaman said Barnes appeared to have a plan for ‘taking people out’ but did not elaborate to the outlet what those plans were.
‘They were just kind of giving us the heads-up – this is what he’s thinking about doing – and for us to be careful,’ Hagaman told the outlet.
But deputies were never able to find him until he showed up to the house on Wednesday – and officials suspect he may have planned to target members of the public but was kept in the home by the officers who died.
He is pictured right with a canine member of the sheriff’s office, which police said was also shot
‘We were trying to get him away from someplace where we could have more control over him. He just decided to take this route,’ Hagaman told WRAL.
‘I’m convinced now, in this situation, given the layout of the neighborhood … they did their job by keeping him in the house,’ he said, referring to the deputies who worked to contain Barnes inside his family’s home.
?so sad, praying for families of those killed, prayers for those wounded.
— Nature Girl (@JacquiTomaszew1) April 30, 2021
Sheriff: Suspect, 2 others in family among dead in standoffhttps://t.co/btmG08Q3qI
Sister Sommer Barnes commented about the tragedy to WRAL on Thursday.
‘I love and miss them all so much,’ Barnes said Thursday and confirmed to the outlet that her brother, mother and stepfather were all dead.
