Suspect In Officer's Killing Arrested In Rhode Island: Reports

CARTERSVILLE, GA -- The man accused of gunning down a Cartersville graduate and Shelby, North Carolina, police officer has been arrested in New England.

WBTV reports that police arrested 23-year-old Irving Lucien Fenner, Jr. around 2 a.m. Wednesday in Rhode Island.

Fenner is accused of fatally shooting 38-year-old Tim Brackeen, a K-9 officer with the Shelby Police Department. Brackeen is a 1997 graduate of Cartersville High School.

According to Rhode Island-based WPRI, Fenner was captured by state and local police in Coventry, which is about 20 miles southwest of Providence. Police also arrested three people in connection to allegedly harboring Fenner.

Officers in that state transported Fenner to an area hospital because the suspect was suffering from a gunshot wound. However, officers told the news station that Fenner did not suffer the injury in his capture, but most likely was shot during the encounter with Brackeen.

According to the Shelby Police Department's Facebook page, Brackeen was in the area of Parkview Street just after midnight Saturday, Sept. 10 looking for a suspect wanted on outstanding warrants.

Soon after arriving on the scene, officers heard several shots fired and when they went to the area where the gunshots originated, they found the officer had been injured.

The agency said on its Facebook page that Brackeen, 38, had been with the department since July 2004. The fallen officer leaves behind a wife and one daughter. A GoFundMe page has been created to help the Brackeen family pay for emergency expenses.

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Image via Shelby Police Department