HIGH POINT, N.C. — High Point police held a news conference Wednesday morning to give details about the investigation into two suspects who are on the run after an officer was almost shot in his face.
Highlights from the conference:
- High Point's interim police chief said, “This was nothing short of an attempt to murder our police officer yesterday."
- The interim police chief said they will continue to go after violent crime and will stop vehicles based on probable cause and reasonable suspicion.
- Police said the suspect in custody, Nakore Rogers, 19, had multiple warrants for his arrest for larcenies and car break-ins. Police arrested Rogers on 20 charges, but only two stemmed from the High Point incident. Police said, at this time, he has not been charged with shooting at the officer. Investigators said Rogers is in a gang.
- Police said the three suspects tried breaking into 41 cars. Some items reported stolen included guns, credit and debit cards, clothes and personal checks.
- Police said the two suspects who got away could be in a 2010 Black Subaru Legacy that was stolen from the neighborhood.
- Police are urging citizens to bring guns inside from their cars and lock their car doors.
According to a release from the High Point police, officers were called to Pondhaven Drive around 5:30 a.m. about car break-ins in progress.
Ring Doorbell video from a resident shows three people walking up to cars in the neighborhood during that time.
"Slim men in hoodies ran through my yard since I'm on the corner, and within maybe 15, 30 seconds after that, all we hear is, 'Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop'," one neighbor who asked to be identified only as Galo said.
An officer drove up to an Audi sedan, that was later determined to be stolen. The officer knocked on the driver's side window and asked the driver to roll down the window. The driver refused.
Police said the person in the driver's seat opened the door and fired a gun and barely missed the officer's face. The officer went back to his patrol car and returned fire, the report said.
Investigators said another car pulled up to the scene, picked up the driver of the Audi, and left.
Police said due to the span of the crime scene, residents in the Meadow Creek subdivision that live on Cantwell Court and west would not be able to leave the neighborhood until the scene was clear. Residents were able to leave through the south exit of Kelso Drive and Pondhaven Drive from the 1500 blocks east to Johnson Street.
"Just the way the crime scene was set up, we couldn't pass the crime scene to get out of the neighborhood," Scott Behe said.
It complicated his workday but Behe said it gave his neighbors a chance to come together.
"You've got good neighbors and good people and COVID's made it more challenging than in the past but still no reason not to say hello and keep those relationships going," Behe said.
Officials said several cars were broken into over the night.
Police said Rogers was found during the ground search in some brush on Johnson Street, just north of Skeet Club Road Tuesday.
Rogers came out with his hands on his head and was taken into custody without incident.
Rogers had multiple outstanding warrants out of Durham, Mebane and Graham for breaking and entering a motor vehicle and larceny, police said.
Rogers was charged with two counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle and two counts of larceny.
He was later interviewed at the police department and taken to the Guilford County Magistrate’s office in High Point, where he received a $244,000 bond for outstanding charges and the additional charges from High Point’s cases and was placed in the Guilford County Jail, investigators said.
The Audi was stolen in Raleigh on September 19, according to investigators.
They recovered a handgun and two rifles inside the Audi. Police said the car was taken and will be processed by the High Point Police Department Crime Lab.
Police said as the investigation continued, a Nissan Titan was stolen at an address on Glenn Meade Drive when the owner started the car and went back inside the home.
High Point police said as one of the suspects was running from the scene, due to the officer being in the neighborhood, he realized there was no way out, got in the truck and stole it.
The person jumped out and ran from the truck at the intersection of Hunter Woods Drive and Glenn Meade Drive, police said.
Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to contact the High Point Police Department at 336-883-3224 or Crime Stoppers of High Point at 336-889-4000 or to Download the P3 mobile app for IOS or Android.