Family of Lincoln County man killed in deputy-involved shooting has questions about incident

LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) - The family members of a Lincoln County man shot and killed in a deputy-involved shooting last Friday night have questions and concerns about the situation that led to their loved one’s death.

Lincoln County Sheriff Bill Beam said 38-year-old Ray Correll was armed with a gun and threatening suicide when he was shot and killed outside of a home on Westdale Lane last Friday.

Reace Correll, Ray Correll’s wife, admits her husband had been battling mental illness, had been drinking Friday, was armed with a gun and was threatening to take his own life. She said a domestic dispute at the family home is how the deadly incident began.

“He was wanting to kill himself, because he kept aiming the gun to his head,” said Reace Correll in an interview with WBTV Monday night.

During a press conference after the shooting, Beam said his deputies responded to the home as a 911 caller notified dispatchers that Correll was threatening to hurt others.

“The caller made a statement that the man has a gun and says that he will blow the cops brains out if they come out,” Beam told reporters last Friday.

Reace Correll claims that her husband never actually threatened to hurt anyone but himself during the situation, and that while shots were fired by Ray Correll, none of them were aimed at family members or the deputies who responded to the situation.

“Never once did he point a gun to them or tell them he was gonna kill them,” said Reace Correll.

Beam also noted last Friday night that Ray Correll had rushed his deputies during the incident. Correll’s family members said he didn’t ‘rush’ deputies, but did walk towards them while holding a gun.

They think the husband and father could have been apprehended without being killed.

“I want them to look at me in my eyes and tell me why they had to kill my dad,” said Ciera Oliva, Ray Correll’s daughter.

Reace Correll questions why deputies couldn’t have used non-lethal weapons to apprehend her husband.

“You could have shot him anywhere. Why couldn’t y’all have handled it with bean bags or why couldn’t y’all handle it with taser guns?” she asked.

While Beam did not address these questions directly last Friday night, he did reference his deputies’ use of force training when speaking to reporters.

“We have less than lethal weapons, but there are also times when someone has a weapon and they’re in your immediate vicinity and there’s not time to use less than lethal,” explained the sheriff.

Correll’s family also questions why the father was shot multiple times. They claim Ray Correll was shot several times and it was unnecessary.

In phone conversation Monday night, Beam said his deputies exercised a great deal of restraint last Friday night and placed themselves in imminent peril.

The State Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the deadly deputy-involved shooting. The three deputies who fired shots last Friday have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Correll’s family members said that Ray Correll was in a dark place the day he died. They don’t want him remembered for the deadly incident.

“My dad was a good person. I don’t care what happened. I don’t care how sick he was. Yeah, he needed help. He did. But he wasn’t a bad person,” said Ciera Oliva.

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