ASHEBORO NC – Just over a year after a vehicle chase ended in a fatal shooting at the NC Zoo, the Randolph County District’s Attorney office has completed its investigation clearing the deputies of any wrongdoing.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 7th, 2020, the suspect, twenty-one-year-old Troy Chase Caster, who was being sought by police in Rowan county for allegedly robbing a female cab driver at gunpoint led deputies on a chase from Rowan County through Stanly County and Davidson County and into Randolph County. The chase at times went in excess of 100 mph. Deputies reported that Caster was firing shots at the deputies before driving toward the Africa entrance of the NC Zoo. The pursuing deputies forced the Caster’s vehicle to stop on a gravel road behind the zoo where more shots were exchanged between Caster and deputies. Caster was shot several times and pronounced dead at the scene. No deputies were injured.
Now the Randolph County District’s Attorney office has completed its investigation which has cleared the deputies clearing the deputies involved in that shooting of any wrongdoing.
“It is clear from the evidence that at the time the involved deputies fired their duty weapons they were either presented with an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to themselves or another deputy from the actions of Troy Caster,” said Andrew Gregson, the Randolph County District Attorney in a press release. “The deputies’ application of deadly force was reasonable and necessary in response to the threat. The deputies’ actions were lawful, justified and proper under U.S. Constitutional law and the North Carolina law governing the use of deadly force by law enforcement.”