CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A paramedic was shot while loading a patient into an ambulance in North Carolina, officials said.
The Kinston Police Department said officers were called to a residential neighborhood at about 6 p.m. Sunday.
Two vehicles were traveling in the area when someone from a gray car reportedly started firing a gun at a white vehicle. One of the vehicles crashed into the ambulance, according to Lenoir County Emergency Services.
A paramedic from the ambulance, which had “nothing to do with” the shooting, was struck in the upper body, Kinston Police Chief Keith Goyette said in video from a news conference that WITN shared on Facebook.
“The patient and two other providers were in the back of the ambulance and were protected by the truck and did not get hit,” Murry Stroud, emergency services director for Lenoir County, said during the news conference. “Those crews immediately started treating our paramedic on scene. Additional units were dispatched to transport the paramedic and take care of the patient that we originally responded to.”
The injured paramedic was taken to a hospital and later was discharged, officials said.
Now, a man accused in the shooting is charged with multiple counts of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. Police in a Facebook post didn’t share attorney information for the man, identified as 23-year-old Brennan Dijuon Hill.
An investigation continues, and officers said more charges are possible. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 252-939-4020 or Crime Stoppers at 252-523-4444.
Kinston is roughly 80 miles southeast of Raleigh.