The Elizabeth City police officer involved in Saturday's fatal shooting of an armed murder suspect is a lieutenant and 16-year veteran of the department.
Police Chief Phil Webster identified the officer Wednesday as Lamar Battle Jr., 41, a watch commander in the patrol division of the department.
According to police, Battle was on foot patrol in the 200 block of North Poindexter Street about 1:57 a.m. when he heard several gunshots. Battle went toward the gunshots and encountered Bryan Christopher White, who, police allege, had just shot Cory Christopher Revelle.
Battle ordered White to drop his weapon. When he did not, Battle shot him, police have said.
Additional officers arrived and after locating Revelle, began performing lifesaving measures on both him and White.
Both Revelle, 39, of the 300 block of Davis Ave., Elizabeth City, and White, 33, of the 800 block of Sandy Cross Road, Belvidere, were then transported to Sentara Albemarle Medical Center where they later died from their wounds, police said.
Webster said police have since learned that a 17-year-old male juvenile from Perquimans County was injured by gunfire in the incident. The juvenile was transported to SAMC for non-life-threatening injuries and released, he said.
"Unfortunately, we have not been able to determine how the juvenile received his injury," he said in an email. Webster said the incident remains under investigation and that police will provide an update when they're able to.
Webster said during a press conference on Saturday that city police are investigating Revelle's fatal shooting while the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation is investigating White's fatal shooting. Webster said his department's Internal Affairs Division is also investigating the incident.
Battle has been assigned to administrative duties while the multiple investigations are underway, Webster said.
During the press conference, Webster initially declined to release Battle's name as the officer involved in White's shooting, saying police would release the officer's name at a later time.
Battle is Black, as were the two men, White and Revelle, who died in the incident, police said.
Webster has said Battle was wearing a body camera that was activated and recording at the time of the shooting incident. City police plan to push for release of footage the camera recorded, he said.
“We’re going to work with SBI and the District Attorney’s office to release body-worn camera video as soon as we can,” he said. “It’s our desire to be as transparent with the public and (with the media) as we can.”
Webster has said the gunshots came from the vicinity of a privately-owned parking garage and open city parking lot in the 200 block of North Poindexter Street. At Saturday's press conference, he explained why a police officer happened to be conducting a foot patrol in the downtown at the time of the shooting.
“We have a couple bars located in that area and normally about that time of night officers get out (of their vehicle) and conduct a foot patrol, just to mitigate any incidents, such as what occurred,” he said.
Webster said the number of shots fired by both White and the officer is still under investigation, as are the events that led to the shooting of Revelle. Also under investigation is whether White actually pointed his weapon at the police officer, Webster said.
Asked if the police officer actually witnessed Revelle being shot, Webster said, “He was in close proximity.”
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