President Joe Biden will meet Thursday with the families of police officers who were killed Monday in North Carolina, the White House announced.
Four police officers were shot and killed in the line of duty in Charlotte on Monday while trying to serve a warrant. Eight police officers in total were shot.
Biden will also visit police officers injured in the shooting, the White House said, as well as other law enforcement and elected officials.
NBC News reported the president’s expected visit to the victims’ families before the announcement at the White House.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Wednesday’s briefing that the officers “were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
When asked during the briefing about a trip to Charlotte before the announcement, Jean-Pierre said she had no details to share.
Biden released a declaration about the police officers on Monday, saying that we “mourn” the dead officers and “pray for the recovery” of the injured.
“It’s like losing a piece of your soul,” Biden said of family members who received the news.
Biden has previously used the phrase “losing a piece of your soul” and drew on his own pain when discussing other people’s tragedies. The president’s first wife and infant daughter died in a car accident in 1972, and his adult son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 after a battle with brain cancer.
The president was already expected to travel to Wilmington, North Carolina, on Thursday, to publicize his economic agenda and infrastructure projects. It will be Biden’s third visit to the swing state this year.
Former President Donald Trump canceled a planned rally in Wilmington last month due to the weather.
The North Carolina officers killed in the shooting were Sam Poloche, 42; William “Alden” Elliott, 46; Deputy US Marshal Thomas M. Semanas Jr.; and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer, authorities said.
The suspect, who was killed during an exchange of gunfire, used a high-powered rifle, according to authorities.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
