RALEIGH –   Members of the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office and the State Highway Patrol were conducting a welfare check on Kevin Anthony Battaglia, 33, at his home near Parkton on Sunday, Oct. 1. As they arrived, Battaglia began shooting at the officers, then barricaded himself inside his home and continued to shoot at law enforcement officers. During the exchange of gunfire, Battaglia was hit and killed. One trooper was shot in his safety vest, taken to the hospital and released.   

Robeson Sheriff Kenneth Sealy requested the assistance of the State Bureau of Investigation.

The SBI provides expert criminal investigative assistance to local law enforcement agencies when requested by police, sheriffs, district attorneys or judges. The agency also has original jurisdiction in cases such as drug and arson investigations, election law violations, gambling, human trafficking, weapons of mass destruction, child sexual abuse in day care centers, computer crimes against children and crimes involving state property.

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