These are CYA weasel words. The sheriff's dept wouldn't be notified of the specifics of ANY operation unless they were taking part in that specific exercise. These teams have been on the ground now for about 2 weeks,and there is no way in hell the Moore County Sheriff's Dept could have not known they were there.
Soldier killing ‘tragic’ error
‘‘They attacked the deputy with everything they had, and he responded accordingly,’’ [Lane] Carter [chief deputy of the Moore County Sheriff’s Department] said. ‘‘One was trying to get the deputy’s weapon. The other was pulling a weapon out of a bag. They ended up getting shot over it. He reacted as any officer would react.’’The soldiers were not wearing uniforms. One of them carried a bag containing a disassembled M-4 carbine, a standard Special Forces weapon, Army officials said. Participants in the exercise do not carry live ammunition.
The State Bureau of Investigation said Butler stopped what appeared to be a suspicious vehicle.Randy Myers, a criminal specialist in the Fayetteville district office of the SBI, said there was a confrontation and “Deputy Butler felt like his life was in imminent danger.’’
Carter compared the traffic stop to a 1997 incident on Interstate 95 when two law enforcement officers were killed. Cumberland County Deputy David Hathcock and N.C. Highway Patrolman Ed Lowery were shot to death on Sept. 22, 1997, after a routine traffic stop on I-95. Brothers Kevin and Tilmon Golphin of Richmond, Va., have been sentenced to death for the killings.Carter said the situation was similar on Saturday in that one person tried to get the officer’s attention while the other tried to fire a rifle.