Our Bureau
Newport, NC
A 46-year-old Indian-origin motel owner was shot dead by a homeless trespasser, in Newport city in the US state of North Carolina. The trespasser barricaded himself inside a room at the property before taking his own life, as per the police.
Satyen Naik, the victim was discovered with a gunshot wound outside the motel when police arrived on the scene. “Just after 10, the 911 centre received a call about an individual trespassing at the Hostess House,” said Newport Police Chief Keith Lewis.
“A disturbance was heard in the background, and just following that a second call was received that an individual had been shot. Within moments officers arrived on scene,” as per reports. After Naik was safely taken away from the building, emergency personnel took him to Carteret Health Care to receive medical attention, where he was pronounced dead later.
“It’s a family-owned business and he operated this business daily with his family,” Lewis said. Troy Kellum, the suspect, was discovered barricaded inside one of the Hostess House’s rooms. “The suspect had barricaded himself in the room,” said Lewis, “which prompted us to alert the Special Response Team (SRT) and request their assistance in retrieving the barricaded person from the room.”
Lewis said that Kellum, 59, was a squatter at the Hostess House and other locations in the area and was thought to be homeless.
For several hours, officers and Kellum were at a standstill as the SRT team’s negotiators attempted to persuade him to give up.
“Our Special Response Team arrived on the scene, and we talked about locking down the nearby schools. We wanted to make sure that the suspect was indeed barricaded in that room.”
The SRT team is a tactical unit made up of individuals from various agencies in Carteret County.
