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A Spring Lake, North Carolina man is dead after Harnett County Sheriff’s deputies demanded to search his residence without a warrant, and then barged in and shot him.

On Sunday, the officers had been attempting to search 33-year-old John Livingston’s trailer near the intersection of Stage Road and W. Everett Drive at about 3:30 a.m. for a man who no longer lived there that was implicated in an assault investigation.

According to his roommate, Livingston told the officers they weren’t searching his home without warrant and shut his door, before “[one of the cops] kicked in the door, got on top of him, started slinging him around [and] beat him…”

Police say Livingston was fighting with the officers but his roommate maintains that his friend was only trying to get a Taser out of a deputy’s hand after he was shocked and sprayed in the face with mace.

“[Livingston, who was face down on the porch,] barely had the Taser in his hand [behind his back,] but he had it where it was constantly going off,” the roommate, Clayton Carroll said. “The officer, I guess that spooked him, [so he] rolled over there [and said,] ‘he’s got the Taser,’ and [then] shot him in th[at] position.”



The father of three was shot at least four times according to other witnesses, and he was pronounced dead shortly after.

“I kept putting [a blanket] on him and telling him to breathe,” witness Bristol Edge said. “He was gone because I knew he wasn’t breathing anymore. There was no reason for this to happen. They could have subdued John and called for back up.”

The unidentified deputies involved in the incident have been placed on administrative duty and the State Bureau of Investigation has launched an investigation to review what transpired.

“[They] threw him on his stomach,” Edge said. “He was maced, he was tasered three to four times. And when he got out on the front porch he was shot four times.”

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