Authorities say three law enforcement officers were killed and five others were injured while attempting to serve an arrest warrant in North Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Three U.S. Marshals Task Force officers serving an arrest warrant for a felon wanted for possession of a firearm were killed and five other officers injured in a shooting at a North Carolina home Monday, police said with.

Officers were first shot by the wanted suspect as they approached the suburban Charlotte home, killing him in the front yard, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said at a news conference.

A second person then fired at officers from inside the home, where a high-powered rifle was found, Jennings said.

A woman and a 17-year-old man were found inside the home after a three-hour standoff in which armored vehicles plowed into the suburban home in a tree-lined neighborhood, ripping out doors and windows. The two would be questioned, Jennings said.

“Today we lost some heroes who were simply trying to keep our community safe,” Jennings said.

The Marshals Service confirmed that one of its agents was killed but did not provide a name. Two officers from the state Department of Adult Corrections were also killed, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said.

Another member of the task force, made up of federal agents and other officials from across the region, was injured.

Four Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers who arrived on scene were also shot while trying to rescue the wounded officers. One of them remains in critical condition, Jennings said.

Neighbors said the gunfire lasted several minutes.

WSOC-TV said their helicopter caught an armored vehicle driving through yards and knocking over recycling bins before officers removed a person with blood on their shirt, who was then loaded into an ambulance.

After the house was cleared, the helicopter pilot said he couldn’t show the front yard of the house because the scene was too graphic and disturbing.

Several armored vehicles were located on nearby lawns and driveways in the older suburban neighborhood of a tree-lined street of brick homes. A broken window and torn blinds were located on a street and an entire door was leaning against one of the vehicles.

“A lot of the questions that need to be answered, we don’t even know what the questions are right now,” Jennings said less than four hours after the shooting. “We must fully understand why this happened and also abide by the integrity of the investigation.”

Many area roads, including Interstate 77, were closed so ambulances could get to hospitals more quickly. Television footage showed ambulances racing to hospitals with sirens blaring, accompanied by vehicles driving in front and behind.

Rissa Reign was cleaning her house when she heard the first shots. There was a pause, then a second set of shots, and then a third. She stepped outside.

“When we got outside, there were no cops there at all, then the cops started charging, charging, charging, charging in,” she said, adding that armored SWAT trucks quickly followed, “driving across the grass, everything , and they started shooting again.”

Kiashia Williams was driving home when she heard multiple gunshots, just seconds apart.

“Ambulances, police and everything everywhere just started running,” Williams said as she waited in her car to go home and check on her daughter, who shared what she saw on social media.

Four schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg were placed on lockdown because of the afternoon dismissal, but it was lifted late in the afternoon, the district said.

Police urged people to stay away from the neighborhood and asked residents to stay in their homes until the all-clear was given.

The last marshal to be shot in the line of duty occurred in November 2018. Chase White was shot in Tucson, Arizona, by a man wanted for stalking local police officers, the agency said.

The Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force is headquartered in Charlotte and is comprised of 70 federal, state and local agencies. Refugee task forces are collaborations between authorities to find and arrest suspects in crimes.

In six years, the regional task force has apprehended more than 8,900 fugitives, the US Marshals Service said on its website.

In March 2007, two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers were killed while responding to a domestic dispute by someone not directly involved in the fight. Demeatrius Antonio Montgomery is serving a life sentence for the murders of officers Jeffrey Shelton and Sean Clark.

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Contributing to this report were Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Erik Verduzco and Peter Smith, The Associated Press