CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 29, 2021 – Crisis-trained chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team (BG-RRT) deployed to Boone Wednesday after two Watauga County Sheriff’s Deputies were killed while completing a welfare check. Chaplains will provide emotional and spiritual care to local law enforcement officers and the community.
The suspect began shooting when officers arrived on the scene just before 10 a.m. The neighborhood was on lockdown during a standoff that lasted several hours and ended just before 11 p.m.
“The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team is saddened to hear of these law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty,” said Josh Holland, assistant director of the BG-RRT. “We have a number of crisis-trained chaplains with law enforcement backgrounds and they have been invited by the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office to come alongside the department and provide hope and comfort to the officers as they grieve.”
Wednesday’s deployment to Boone marks the 18th deployment of the year for the BG-RRT.
For more information on the ministry, including videos, photos, news articles and an interactive map of former and current deployments, visit the BG-RRT press kit or BillyGraham.org/RRT. Updates can also be found at Facebook.com/RRTChaplains.
About the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team:
The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was developed by Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It has since grown into an international network of chaplains in the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia who are specifically trained to deal with crisis situations. They have deployed to more than 550 disaster sites across the globe, including shootings, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes.
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