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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Deputies Identified In Suspect Shooting

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey has released the names of the deputies involved in the shooting death of an 18-year-old suspect.

The three deputies named in the incident are 39-year-old Greg Johnson, 34-year-old Larry Robinson and 34-year-old Christopher Long.

The three deputies are currently on paid administrative leave during the investigation.

UNCW police and deputies from an elite unit at the sheriff's department teamed up to issue search and arrest warrants for Peyton Strickland at his Wilmington home last Friday night when he was shot and killed inside the doorway.

Deputy Long was the focus of an incident back in 2001 when he fired at two teenagers inside a car as it drove toward him. Long was cleared of wrongdoing in that case.

New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey says that incident was not a factor in holding back the names, that the deputies' safety was his main concern.

"I was not trying to cover up anything or hid anything, it was purely the safety of their family and the officers. That's been addressed, it's been handled, and I have given the names."

According to the search warrant for Peyton Strickland, surveillance tape from a Wilmington Wal-mart led to an anonymous tip that made Strickland and Ryan David Mills suspects in last month's robbery of a pair of video game systems on the UNCW campus.

A third suspect, Braden Riley, has turned himself in.