A 13-hour standoff in the North Carolina mountain town of Boone ended at about 11 p.m. on Wednesday with five dead: The gunman, his mother and stepfather, and two Watauga County deputies. Liberal mainstream media are largely ignoring the story — likely because there is no racial element to exploit. What little mention it is receiving is geared toward decreasing “gun violence.”
What began as a “welfare check” — i.e., when law enforcement is sent to check on someone to make sure they are alright — ended with four victims and the gunman dead. At 9:45 a.m., the Watauga County Sheriff’s office responded to a call for a check on George Wyatt Ligon, 58, and Michelle Annette Ligon, 61, when Mr. Ligon did not report for work and no one was able to reach either of the Ligons, or Mrs. Ligon’s son, 32-year-old Isaac Alton Barnes, by phone. When Sergeant Chris Ward and K-9 Deputy Logan Fox arrived at the residence, they saw all of the family’s vehicles outside the home.
They entered to check on the family, though it is not known if Barnes let them in the home or if after there was no answer, they entered on their own. What is known is that Barnes, who had already killed Mr. and Mrs. Ligon, was laying in wait for the officers. As the deputies descended into the Ligons’ basement, Barnes allegedly shot and killed them both.
Barnes then barricaded himself in the family home and sporadically fired shots at more deputies and officers as they arrived at the scene. Thirteen hours later, police gained entry into the home and found the Ligons dead. Barnes was also dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Of the other officers who were fired upon, one was struck by a bullet but was uninjured because his tactical helmet deflected the shot.
What led Barnes to murder his mother and stepfather before killing two officers and trying to hurt many more remains a mystery. But in days before the shooting, family members had allegedly warned authorities that he “might try and do something,” Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman said in a statement to the media Thursday. Hagaman reported that his office had been informed that Barnes had a “large cache of weapons,” and that deputies were warned to “be on the lookout.”
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And while — as mentioned previously — there is no racial angle to this story for the mainstream media to exploit (since everyone involved was white), the reporting so far appears to be caught between narratives. It is impossible to maintain the current focus that all law-enforcement officers are trigger-happy racists, as there is no racial axe to grind here. These two deputies went into what they knew was a dangerous situation and died protecting their community. So, the media are trotting out the “gun violence” and “mass-shooting” narrative.
NBC News has covered the tragedy. After reporting that family members had warned authorities that Barnes posed a danger, the report moves on to spend one paragraph on the deputies themselves:
Ward was an eight-year veteran of the force, while Fox had been with the sheriff’s office for two years. Flowers and candles were laid for the slain officers at a memorial statue outside of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday, NBC affiliate WCNC reported.
Next, with no transition whatsoever, the report shifts gears and spends the next five paragraphs on “gun violence.” And that is where the article ends.
Let that sink in.
After a cursory treatment of the brave men who gave their lives, NBC then spends five times that space to quote misleading statistics on the need for more gun control. The last word of NBC’s article on the death of four victims — including two deputies — is given to the anti-gun agenda.
This writer wants to correct that and give NBC an example of how to end an article on the deaths of two deputies, so here is the information on the two brave men who deliberately walked into harm’s way to serve others:
Sergeant Ward was 36 years old. He worked in law enforcement for eight years, starting at the Beech Mountain Police Department in 2013 before joining the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, where he was promoted to sergeant. Ward was well known in his community and highly respected. He was married to his high-school sweetheart and had two daughters, ages 5 and 19. His family says his death is “devastating.”
Deputy Fox was 25 and had been with the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office for two years. He began his career in law enforcement at the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office in 2017, when he was 21. He was a K-9 handler, and his K-9 partner Raven is now without a handler. Fox’s fellow deputies praised him as passionate about his job as a K-9 handler. In a Facebook post, the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office wrote, “He was dedicated, professional and well-liked by all, was quickly promoted to be one of our agency’s K9 handlers before moving on to work at the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office.”
That post goes on to say: “The lives Logan touched and people he helped while he wore our uniform are too many to list and he will forever be remembered here.” God rest their souls. For they lived and died affirming the words of Christ that “Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends.”
Sergeant Ward and Deputy Fox are the 117th and 118th law enforcement officers to do so this year.
