Four officers were shot and four injured during the siege of a home in North Carolina

Four police officers were fatally shot and four others were injured while serving an arrest warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina.

A suspected attacker was found dead in the front yard of a barricaded home after a three-hour standoff, police said.

Two other persons of interest were being interviewed, authorities added.

It is one of the deadliest attacks on US law enforcement in recent years.

The officers were part of a task force led by the U.S. Marshals Service. The arrest warrant they tried to serve Monday was for a felon wanted for illegal gun possession.

As they attempted to do so, gunfire erupted on the suburban street.

Officers returned fire at an attacker in the front yard, then more shots were fired at them from inside the home, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said at a news conference. A high-powered rifle was found on the property, he added.

“Today we lost some heroes who were simply trying to keep our community safe,” the police chief told reporters.

He said it was the worst attack on police officers he could remember in his 30 years of service.

According to witnesses, shots continued to be fired in a residential area in the east of the city more than two hours after the attack began.

The attack ended when police stormed the house on Galway Drive in the Shannon Park district, using armored vehicles to gain entry and destroying windows and doors.

Two women who were in the home with a suspect were brought in for questioning, police said. Police believe more than one attacker was involved in the incident.

The US Marshals Service confirmed in a statement that one of its officers was killed in the raid.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said two of the officers killed were members of the state’s Department of Adult Corrections (NCDAC).

They were identified as Sam Poloche, who joined NCDAC in 2013, and William “Alden” Elliott, who joined in 2016.

“Our thoughts are with the families and colleagues of the officers in today’s brutal attack,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Also killed was Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer, who had served on the force for six years, police said.

“We are forever indebted to Officer Eyer for his courage and ultimate sacrifice,” a police statement said.

The dead suspect was later identified by police as 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes Jr., who was wanted for possession of a weapon by a felon.

Chief Jennings said Monday afternoon, “Many of the questions that need to be answered, we don’t even know what the questions are yet.”

“We must fully understand why this happened and also maintain the integrity of the investigation.”

Several nearby schools were sealed off during the siege.

Residents were asked to shelter in place, and surrounding roads – including Interstate 77 – were closed to facilitate ambulance rescues.

Witness Tyler Wilson told CBS News he was working at home when he heard police asking the suspect to leave the house.

“After that it was just chaos,” he said. “Shots were fired left and right.

“We had Swat and US Marshals set up snipers in our bedrooms. There was an officer being dragged by his arms through our house.”

“It was pretty crazy,” he continued. “It lasted about 30 minutes during which it came to a direct shootout.”

Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said in a statement that she was “deeply saddened” by the shooting.

She added that she spoke with President Joe Biden, who expressed his condolences to the community.

In a statement later Monday evening, Mr. Biden called the officials “heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice, throwing themselves into harm’s way to protect us.”

He also called on Congress to address the “scourge of gun violence” and ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“Enough is enough,” he said.