Two murder suspects died during a shootout with police

A weekend shooting at a North Carolina home left one suspect dead and another injured, and another died hours later in a police shootout outside the home, officials said Sunday.

Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell reported on social media that Justin Michael Strawser was wearing a bulletproof vest and was shooting at police officers when he died in a shooting outside a home in Mooresville on Saturday. The police officers and four children who were inside the home with Strawser were unharmed, Campbell added.

Officers responded to a call about a shooting at another Mooreville home, where they found two people dead inside the home and critically injured on the back porch. All three were immobilized and bound, and a third was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, the police chief said.

Police said Strawser and the three who were shot knew each other, so it was not a random home invasion. Possible motives are narcotics and robbery, he added.

Information about Strawser led officers to another home, where the suspect barricaded himself inside and began shooting at them with an AR-15 rifle, Campbell said.

With the house surrounded, police negotiators tried to get Strawser to come out, according to Campbell. They also learned that there were four minors inside, but they did not cooperate and rejected rescue efforts, he added.

Authorities said some of the bullets fired by Strawser hit police vehicles. Strawser also told negotiators about his involvement in another home fatality, according to Campbell.

Officers then used tear gas, prompting the children to flee the home, and Strawser followed them, wearing a bulletproof vest and firing at the officers, according to the police chief. Police then returned fire, killing Strawser, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. Three officers were placed on administrative leave per policy.

Those killed in the first house were identified as two men aged 22 and 24.