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Memphis shooting: Manhunt ends with suspected killer's surrender

The main suspect in the fatal shooting of a Memphis police officer over the weekend surrendered to authorities Monday. 

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Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal via AP
Memphis police canvas an area near where Police Officer Sean Bolton was fatally shot during a traffic stop Saturday, in Memphis, Tenn., Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015. Tremaine Wilbourn, the suspected shooter, surrendered to authorities on Monday, Aug. 3, after an extensive manhunt.
  • By Tim Ghianni Reuters

| NASHVILLE, Tenn.

A man suspected of fatally shooting a police officer in Memphis over the weekend surrendered to authorities on Monday after an extensive manhunt and being placed on the state's most-wanted fugitives list, the sheriff's office said.

Tremaine Wilbourn is suspected of shooting Officer Sean Bolton multiple times during a scuffle after the officer pulled up to a parked car and apparently interrupted a drug deal, Memphis police said.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office said on its Twitter feed that Wilbourn was in custody. He turned himself in at a US Marshals' office in a federal building in Memphis, the sheriff's department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.

"Now we hope Officer Bolton can truly rest, that his family can begin to grieve, and that as a community we can all begin to heal. To our brothers and sisters in Blue, we stand with you and are always here to help!," the sheriff's office said on its Facebook page.

A first-degree murder warrant had been issued for Wilbourn, who was suspected of being the passenger in the vehicle. The driver had previously turned himself in to police and was released without charge, police said.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation placed the suspect on its Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List on Monday, saying "Wilbourn should be considered armed and dangerous."

Police said Wilbourn was on supervised release from prison, where he had been serving a 10-year sentence for bank robbery.

Bolton, a former Marine, became the third Memphis police officer to be shot and killed in the past four years.

(Reporting by Tim Ghianni; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Eric Beech)

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