CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The Columbus County man who found a dying North Carolina trooper in the road just after 12 a.m. Wednesday says he tried to comfort Kevin Conner in his final minutes, reports TV station WTVD.
"I told him everything will be OK. It will be fine. He would make it through this," Hilton Cox told the station. "The trooper was still gasping for air. He was still breathing and still had a good pulse."
Conner, an 11-year veteran of the department, was pronounced dead after being taken to a nearby hospital, said a release from the N.C. Highway Patrol.
Bullets had struck Conner in the right eyebrow and torso, reported WITN.
Conner, 38, had two children, ages 5 and 11, and was married to Miranda Conner, a music instructor at Southeast Community College, according to his obituary. A visitation for Conner starts at 1 p.m. Sunday at South Columbus High School, with the funeral at 4 p.m., says the obituary.
A suspect in the shooting, 20-year-old Raheem Davis, is charged with first-degree murder, said the highway patrol in a statement.
Hilton Cox told TV station WECT that he was outside his home smoking around midnight when he "heard four or five gunshots" and squealing tires. Cox said he got in his car and followed the noise to find Conner in the road and his patrol car's blue lights still flashing, the station reported.
"I immediately called 911 and started talking to him," Cox was quoted telling WECT. "I held onto him until the EMTs showed up."
Investigators said in a press release that the shooting happened about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, after Conner pulled over a pickup for speeding on US 701 in Columbus County. The spot, outside of Whiteville, is about 120 miles south of Raleigh.
Conner got out of his patrol car and "the driver of the pickup then fired several shots," said a statement.
The white pickup sped away toward the Fair Bluff community, where its front tires became lodged between some railroad tracks, said a press release. The driver then ran, said the release.
"An extensive search" led to the arrest of Raheem Cole Dashanell Davis of Chadbourn, said a release. He was taken into custody "without incident" at about 4 a.m., reported WSOC.
The Robesonian newspaper reports dozens of officers from four counties and three state agencies joined in the manhunt, which stretched along two miles of road.
Conner is known in the Whiteville area as one of two troopers "hailed as heroes" in August 2011, after they helped two drivers involved in a head-on crash on US 74, reported WRAL.
One of the vehicles caught fire and Conner was credited with extinguishing the fire while also offering first aid to the driver pinned inside, the station reported.
An obituary for Conner said he is a native of Bladenboro, and joined the highway patrol in 2007. In his spare time, he owned and operated K&M Auto Sales.
