Two deputies and three others, including a suspected gunman, were killed in an hourslong armed standoff in northwestern North Carolina.

The roughly 13-hour standoff began after deputies responded to a Watauga County home near Boone on Wednesday morning around 9:44 a.m. for a welfare check after the homeowner did not report for work or respond to telephone calls, according to a statement from the sheriff's office. After seeing the residents' cars parked outside, the deputies entered the home, where an unknown person began shooting at them, striking both deputies.