Police officer shot in back while patrolling Statesville neighborhood

STATESVILLE, N.C. — Statesville residents say they are concerned as police continue their search for the person who shot at officers patrolling a neighborhood Friday night, hitting one officer who was saved by his bulletproof vest.

A gunman “stepped out of the shadows” and fired multiple shots at two Statesville police officers who were on a routine foot patrol on 5th Street and Raleigh Avenue around 11 p.m., police said.

Officer Tyler Horn was shot in the back but was released from the hospital Saturday morning.

Police said Horn was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot.

Neighbors said police knocked at their door while investigating the shooting.

A woman told Channel 9 everybody in her house had to get out just to make sure the shooter wasn’t inside.

“You know, things is bad sometimes,” she said.

Neighbors said they thought the crime rate was getting better.

“At one time, it was like every night we would hear shots,” the woman said. “The PD put out that they were going to intensify because of the shootings that were going on in the daytime.”

Statesville officers patrol the neighborhoods daily.

Investigators said that's what the officers were doing when a shooter came out nowhere and fired at them.

“There were like five or six shots,” another neighbor said. “We did not know that an officer was down.  The only thing that we knew, there was a sea of cops outside.”

The next day, officers were back patrolling the neighborhood.

The shooter has not been identified, but police said they are investigating.

Cox Media Group