SNOW HILL, N.C. – An outpouring of emotion all across the east tonight following the death of Greene County deputy Jon Willis.
31 year old Greene County deputy Jon Willis was shot and killed inside a home last night.
Flags are at half staff in honor of Willis, who last night paid the ultimate price protecting others.
Shortly before 8 last night, Willis responded to a domestic violence call at 89 Brook Place.
Willis was alone at the time, went inside and was shot and killed by 22 year old Daniel Myers who came out of a bedroom inside the house firing a hand gun. Myers hit Willis multiple times. He died on scene.
Myers was no stranger to crime. Nine On Your Side did a criminal background check on Myers and it turns out he has an extensive list of charges.
Over the past couple years, Myers has been charged with assault on a female, assault with a deadly weapon, and resisting arrest.
Most of those charges came from Greene and Wayne counties.
Myers was on parole for a conviction from August 2009.
Sheriff Lemmie Smith said a call is different and you just never know what may happen, “We're trained on how to respond to these situations and you really don't know what kind of situation you might have when you arrive to the scene of a domestic. A domestic is one of the most dangerous calls you can go on."
A deputy was en route to back him up but arrived after the shooting happened.
Sheriff Smith says Willis was issued a bullet proof vest but was not wearing it at the time.
Willis had two children, a boy and a girl.
We’ll have more throughout the day on wnct.com and tonight at 6 on Eyewitness News 9.
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A Greene County deputy sheriff has been killed in the line of duty. It happened at 89 Brook Place off Highway 13 South of Snow Hill.
9OYS is gathering information, but the biggest mystery that remains why a domestic disturbance call resulted in the deaths of two men?
Officials in Greene County say Sheriff's Deputy Jon Willis was answering a domestic disturbance call in the subdivision Wednesday evening around 7:30pm.
According to Sheriff Lemmie Smith, at the time of his arrival, the suspect who was identified as 22-year-old Daniel Meyers was drunk, angry and irate. Meyers shot Deputy Willis twice before shooting himself.
Smith says Deputy Willis was issued a bullet proof vest, but wasn't wearing it at the time he responded to the call.
The Greene County Sheriff's Office has yet to tell us what caused the domestic disturbance call to escalate to gunfire. But neighbors are firm, there's never an excuse to turn a weapon on an officer.
"They're there to assist what's going in a situation---not to cause an incident,” said neighbor LaToya Lender. “But to prevent an incident."
This is the third deputy to die in the line of duty in eastern North Carolina since April 2009. 31-year-old Willis is survived by two children.
Eyewitness News 9 will have more throughout the day on wnct.com and on Eyewitness News 9 at Noon, 6, CW & Nightside.
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