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A man who works at a car wash across the street from the airport told WPDE that he heard the gunshots.

\"I thought it was like somebody doing fireworks because of the New Year's and all that. I thought it was fireworks. As I come around the corner, I saw all the police and yellow tape, then I knew it was gunshots, real gunshots,\" said the man, who did not want to be identified.

UPDATE: An airport officer is dead after the officer-involved shooting. https://t.co/wE6ij5fQ3p

— WPDE ABC15 (@wpdeabc15) January 5, 2020

Winkeler was the first police officer killed in the line of duty in the United States 2020, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page website.

In 2019, 134 U.S. law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, including 47 who were shot to death, according to the memorial page.

\"This morning our community has been again shocked by an act of violence directed at one of our local Law Enforcement officers,\" the Florence County Sheriff's Department said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

\"We ask that the community please keep Jackson Winkeler’s family, friends, and coworkers in their prayers as they process what has occurred,\" the statement reads. \"They have our deepest sympathy and we will be assisting them in any way possible.\"

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