Man Wanted for NC Cop Killing Caught in Coventry

COVENTRY, RI — A man wanted for allegedly shooting and killing a North Carolina police officer was arrested in Coventry early Wednesday morning where he was reportedly hiding from police.

Irving Fenner, 23, was arrested after members of the Rhode Island State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals service surrounded a Tiogue Avenue apartment, according to the state police.

Rhode Island State Police Superintendent Col. Steven O'Donnell said Fenner surrendered without incident and was transported to Rhode Island Hospital with a gunshot wound and will be arraigned once he's released.

Fenner is accused of shooting Officer Tim Brackeen of the Shelby Police Department in North Carolina on Saturday. The officer was shot in the chest and died on Monday.

Fenner might have had help from family members. Police said his sister and other family members could be facing charges for aiding Fenner after he fled North Carolina. And, police said, his half-sister is wanted out of North Carolina for accessory-to-murder charges and could have gone to that state to help him flee to Rhode Island.

Police converged on an address in Providence Tuesday night, which happened to be his half-sister's apartment. He wasn't there, but police soon tracked him to the house in Coventry, which is where friends of his half-sister live, police said.

O'Donnell told the Providence Journal that the outcome in Coventry could have been deadly had Fenner not chosen to surrender.

"If you're going to fight with the police, we're going to fight back," O'Donnell said. If that happens, he said, "You know you're going to have to use deadly force. Thank God we didn't. It's a good day for law enforcement to get a cop killer off the street."

Coventry police also participated in the capture. In a statement, Coventry Police Chief Col. John MacDonald said that his department's members "are proud to have been involved in this State and Federal Law Enforcement effort to bring to this fugitive to justice. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the slain officer and his law enforcement brothers and sisters in Shelby, South Carolina."