Man with axe charges at officer, fatally shot, sheriff says | Crime

ALEXANDER COUNTY - Investigators in Alexander County say a man was fatally shot Sunday night with charged at a deputy with an axe.

The Alexander County Sheriff's Office said the incident happened around 10:31 p.m. Sunday night while the deputy was serving papers to a home in the 2700 block of Sulphur Springs Road in Hiddenite.

According to the sheriff's office, a man, later identified as 47-year-old William Frederick Ippolito, ran at the deputy with an axe, The deputy "was forced to discharge his weapon in the course of defending himself and other officers," the report states.

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Ippolito, who is originally from New York, was injured in the shooting and was taken to the hospital where he later died.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations has been called in to investigation the shooting, officials say.

The deputy was not hurt during the incident, but was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.