Sergeant Philip Dale Nix was not wearing his uniform when he saw a crime unfolding at a gas station. He was off duty, away from the formal authority of badge 873, yet he intervened. That decision ended with gunfire and took his life on December 30, 2023. Nix was 50 years old. His death left the Greensboro Police Department without a supervisor, a colleague, and a public servant who had given 23… Read more
William “Alden” Elliott was killed doing work that demanded courage before anyone could know its cost. On April 29, 2024, the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction investigator was attempting to serve a warrant in east Charlotte when gunfire ended his life at the scene. He was 46 years old. Behind the rank of Investigator was a United States Marine Corps veteran, a husband, a father, and a public servant who had… Read more
On December 23, 2024, Greensboro lost Police Officer Michael Horan to gunfire while he was answering a call meant to protect people from danger. He was 44 years old. The loss arrived just before Christmas, when families were meant to be together, and left a community facing the unbearable truth that a public servant had gone to help and would not return. Officer Horan had spent seven years with the Greensboro Police… Read more
Francisco Paul Flattes was doing work built around responsibility when his life was taken. A Detention Officer with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, he was escorting a federal inmate to a medical appointment when he was shot and mortally wounded. He was 56 years old. The loss is difficult to hold in a sentence. A public servant entered an ordinary duty with the expectation of protecting others, and the duty became fatal.… Read more
Roger Smith spent three decades in public safety, helping protect people through two North Carolina police agencies. On November 8, 2025, that life was taken by gunfire inside a hospital emergency department—a place associated with treatment, urgency, and the effort to save lives. He was 59 years old. For the people who knew him through WakeMed Campus Police & Public Safety Department and the Knightdale Police Department, Officer Smith was more than… Read more
Heroic Outfitters