Ollis said the weapon appeared to be an Airsoft gun. However, she said the gun looked real. The person who called 911 also said Jacobs had a knife, the release said.

“But (the deputy) couldn’t tell it was a BB gun or what it was,” Keller said. “I was surprised he didn’t shoot him quicker than he did. We might have watched it five minutes or longer. You give a man that much time, he better lay his gun down.”

The C02 pistol was a perfect replica of a real gun, the release said. The deputy gave the man about six warnings to drop the gun, but he kept walking toward the deputy while beating his chest, Ollis said.

Ollis and Keller said the deputy had no choice but to shoot him.

“(The man might be) somebody’s son, somebody’s brother, somebody’s dad,” Ollis said. “This is definitely something that’s going to stick in my head — seeing that.”

Keller said he is not sure whether or not the man was living in the trailer park. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate the incident, Sheriff Steve Whisenant said.

Investigators gathered evidence and interviewed witnesses at the scene until about midnight, Whisenant said.