Sampson County Sheriff's Deputy Shooting Plea

2/14/2025
 
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**  

**Contact:**  
Chad Flowers  
Public Information Officer  
9196181332  
cflowers@ncsbi.gov  

**(Sampson County, NC)** - The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) announces that Michael Walthall, Jr. has pled guilty to charges stemming from the 2022 shooting of Sampson County Deputy Sheriff Caitlin Emanuel. A Superior Court Judge accepted his guilty pleas to multiple offenses, including Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer with a Firearm, Larceny of a Motor Vehicle, Possession of a Firearm by a Felon, and Breaking and Entering. 

The judge sentenced Walthall to a minimum of 96 months and a maximum of 137 months in prison. Following the completion of his active sentence in North Carolina, he will be extradited to Pennsylvania to serve an additional four years for a parole violation.