NC flags lowered to half-staff for slain prison officer
WINDSOR, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Governor Roy Cooper ordered state flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of a sergeant killed at Bertie Correctional Institution.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety says Sgt. Meggan Callahan has died following an assault by an inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in Cumberland County.
Crisis counselors are meeting with employees at Central Prison in Raleigh and other facilities around the state Thursday.
The assault happened around 5:30 Wednesday evening. Sergeant Callahan died about an hour later despite attempts to resuscitate her.
Inmate Craig Wissink, 35, is being investigated in connection with the sergeant's death.
Governor Roy Cooper offered his condolences on Thursday.
"I'm deeply saddened by this tragedy," Cooper said in a statement. "This reminds us of the risks that law enforcement, including correctional officers, take every day to protect us."
The department requested that the State Bureau Investigation conduct a full investigation into the sergeant's death.
Callahan, of Edenton, has been with the department since January 2012. She was promoted to sergeant in February 2016.
Wissink has been in prison since April 2004. He was convicted in a home-invasion style robbery in which a man died from a shotgun blast to the chest.
