A man from North Carolina is facing a lengthy prison sentence after engaging in a violent crime spree. During the incident, he shot two deputies, drove over one of them, and hijacked an ambulance that came to their aid, according to authorities.

Shawn Locklear Jr., aged 22, received a 45-year federal prison sentence. This was for using a firearm during a violent crime and possessing a machine gun while involved in drug sales, as announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. His guilty plea was entered last summer.

In March 2022, Locklear was taken into custody for armed robbery involving a firearm, federal prosecutors reported. However, he was released later that year and subsequently faced charges of murder and robbery. In a surprising turn, a state court judge granted him bond in May 2023 while he awaited trial. Then, in September 2023, he allegedly committed further offenses, such as reportedly assaulting his sister over accusations of stealing his gun.

These events led up to November 7, 2023, when deputies from the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, including Deputy Jonathan Walters, attempted to arrest Locklear near Maxton, North Carolina. This rural area is close to the South Carolina border. When they tried to apprehend him, Locklear fled his home and dashed into the nearby woods.

Officers soon located him hiding behind a tree and ordered him to show his hands and surrender. According to federal prosecutors, Locklear initially revealed his left hand from one side of the tree but then swiftly emerged from the other side, gun in hand, and began firing at the deputies.

Walters and another deputy were hit “several times in the legs” and gut, authorities said. “Wounded and shocked, the deputies crawled to cover behind their patrol car,” but as one of them reloaded, Locklear “sprinted up and dove into the driver’s seat of the patrol car.”

He then “gunned it in reverse, running over one deputy and almost crushing both.” The deputies managed to shoot Locklear, but he kept driving and “left the deputies to die, bleeding in the dirt.”

After the deputies called emergency services to have someone drive an ambulance to their location, Locklear “intercepted the ambulance speeding” to them, “stopping it in the middle of the road” and forcing its driver to take him to a nearby hospital. Additional deputies responded and placed their injured fellow officers “into the bed of a pickup truck, and rushed them to the same hospital.” Officers then arrested Locklear.

“This demon should not have walked freely in our community after his first crimes in March 2022, and certainly not after the 2023 crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle. “He is not fit for society, and our families don’t need to worry about him shooting more victims for the next 45 years.”

Walters returned to work in June 2025 after an extensive recovery process. The other deputy was also treated and returned home days after the shooting, regional ABC affiliate WTVD reported at the time.

Locklear still faces a slew of state charges. Not only does he face charges related to the deputy-involved shooting — including two counts of attempted first-degree murder — but he also still stands charged with first-degree murder and other crimes referenced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

The status of the defendant’s cases in North Carolina is unclear, though records show he was supposed to have hearings last week.