Peachtree – Family and colleagues are preparing for today’s funeral of Cherokee County Detention Center Transport Officer Francisco Flattes, 56, of Hayesville, who was shot and killed while taking an inmate to a medical appointment on June 30.
Several fundraisers have been launched to help the Flattes family, while emergency responders from Murphy to Winston-Salem have reached out in myriad ways to show their support and solidarity for the fallen officer and his family.
His funeral is at 1 p.m. today at Tri-County Community College.
Kelvin Wayne Simmons, 48, of Concord, faces a charge of first degree murder as well as potentially other federal charges stemming from the June 30 shooting.
Simmons was arrested June 1, 2023 in Buncombe County following a robbery of First Citizens Bank in Hendersonville. He led police on thigh-speed chase after he was spotted in the Black Mountain area before crashing his vehicle on Interstate 240 in Asheville. According to reports, he attempted to carjack an elderly woman’s car but was detained by three off-duty military service members. He was hospitalized following that capture.
Initially held for bank robbery by force of violence, first-degree kidnapping, common law robbery, assault on a female, felony possession of cocaine and flee/elude arrest with a motor vehicle, Simmons was being held as a federal prisoner at the Cherokee County Detention Center in October 2024, when he attempted his first escape.
At 4:41 p.m. during yard time, Simmons was with other inmates in his pod in the inmate yard for outdoor recreation. Inmate recreation and exposure to natural light are required by law.
Simmons scaled a fence topped with razor wire. He was surrounded minutes later about 200 yards from the jail by detention center officers, sheriff’s deputies, and police officers from Murphy and Andrews.
Simmons was returned to custody and hospitalized for injuries caused by the razor wire and fall from the fence.
“He was cut up bad,” Sheriff Dustin Smith said at the time. “The fence done what it was designed to do.”
Simmons was charged with felony escaping a local jail and misdemeanor resisting a public officer.
Injuries from his October escape attempt led him to a 2 p.m. appointment at Erlanger Orthopedic & Sports Medicine, 75B Medical Park Lane, on June 30. Details about what happened inside that medical office are still being sorted out, with the State Bureau of Investigation leading the inquiry.
What is known is that Simmons overpowered two detention officers who were guarding him – Flattes and George Feinauer, both seasoned law enforcement veterans with years of experience. Flattes was fatally shot, while Feinauer was assaulted but is expected to recover.
The 911 call
A little past 2 p.m. June 30, Cherokee County’s E-911 center started receiving calls about the shooting. Two of the calls were from Feinauer trying to reach his supervisors at the jail.
It was one call, a woman inside the medical office where the shooting took place, that set the stage better than all the rest.
“There’s a gun,” the unidentified caller said. “A patient has a gun.”
Send emergency medics, she said. “Please hurry,” she said, while catching her breath. “Please hurry.”
Tensions rise as the 911 dispatcher tries to get necessary details from a person putting her life at risk to make the call.
Patient with a gun, she said. He is shooting in lobby.
“We have patients here,” she said. “Please hurry.”
Until this point, about 1 minute, 10 seconds into the call, there was a hint – he’s in a gray jumpsuit, she said.
“He’s got a hostage,” she said repeatedly. “He’s robbing her,” she added.
Simmons took someone’s car keys and took off with the vehicle, headed toward Hayesville. Despite the chaos, the caller gave the dispatcher a full description of the escape vehicle – a black 2018 Chevrolet Cruze – and the name of the gunman, which she had because he was a patient there.
“He’s leaving. He let her go, he took her car. He stole the car. Need EMS,” she said.
They are locking the doors, she said. Someone is injured, she doesn’t know who.
Shots fired, she said. “Somebody’s been shot.”
Three minutes and 30 seconds into the call, the caller shared new information that must have made the dispatcher’s blood run cold.
“He stole one of the correction officer’s guns,” the caller said.
“He what?” the dispatcher asked. “What was the gunman’s name again?”
“Kelvin Simmons,” the caller said, spelling out both first and last names. He was here for an appointment. Somebody was shot in a patient room, but she didn’t know if it was a correctional officer or patient.
Simmons was an inmate at the Cherokee County Detention Facility in Murphy.
Both corrections officers were injured, she said, one, presumably Feinauer, with an elbow injury, and Flattes, who was shot.
“Ma’am, where is that ambulance?” the caller pleads. “We need somebody now, we’re losing, they’re losing, they’re dying.”
The clinic was being evacuated, she said, and the call ended.
The response
Local law enforcement were descending on the scene as they first knew it – an active shooter in a medical office with possible injuries – but it was more than three minutes after the initial call that put the incident in its true light.
The shooting of law enforcement personnel is personal to them – they know the victim or know people who do. The bigger issues is public safety – someone who shoots a cop would be desperate and not hesitate to shoot anyone. They needed to capture him, quickly.
Officers from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Murphy Police Department and N.C. Highway Patrol learned about the escape and detention officer shooting as they were en route or shortly after they arrived.
First units on scene had to deal with a grave medical aid situation, determine if there was still a threat present and protect evidence, all simultaneously to other units heading out for the chase.
Simmons took keys from a patient at the medical office and fled in her car, taking U.S. 64 through Hayesville into Macon County, where about two dozen pursuit cars participated in his capture near the intersection of Old Murphy Road.
Between Peachtree and Hayesville, one patrol officer’s car caught up to Simmons. He was soon joined by two dozen others as officers from Clay and Macon counties joined the chase.
Video recorded by a motorist showed the scene, with a Highway Patrol SUV damaged by an earlier Precision Immobilization Technique – a law enforcement tactic used to stop a fleeing vehicle by causing it to spin out and come to a stop – as it performed another PIT maneuver.
Simmons drove across a grassy median as the camera stopped. Witnesses said a Cherokee County sheriff’s deputy performed the final PIT maneuver that ended the hour-long chase.
Back in Peachtree
In a tragic irony, Flattes was wounded in a doctor’s office next to a hospital.
Dozens of officers responded, many armed with AR-style rifles, most in uniform, some in plain clothes. Sheriff Dustin Smith was on scene as well.
Lockdowns were initiated at Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital and related offices in the vicinity, including Tri-County Community College and, next door to the shooting, Appalachian Mountain Health-Murphy, which was holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Traffic was disrupted at the intersection of U.S. 64 East Alternate and N.C. 141 during the initial response.
Two ambulances arrived and a Life Flight helicopter was summoned, but the ambulance crew could not access the scene until after the all-clear was given.
Flattes was moved from the building to an ambulance via a stretcher, with one medic holding an IV while others held up a sheet to protect the wounded officer’s privacy.
The air ambulance landed and shut off its engine. The mood of emergency responders was beginning to shift, now more somber. Social media was ablaze with speculation.
It wasn’t until five hours later that Smith, during a press conference at the college, just down the road from the shooting, officially confirmed that Flattes died.
An emergency command post was also set up at the college. District Attorney Ashley Welch and other officials arrived later and participated in the press conference.
The third escape
This was the third escape attempt involving the Cherokee County Detention Center jurisdiction since October 2024, and the second involving Simmons.
In March, a Cherokee County inmate was captured about four hours after he escaped from a work crew at the sheriff’s shooting range in Marble.
Robert Keith Revis Jr., 50, of Andrews, was being held at the jail in lieu of numerous charges including being a habitual felon and bond forfeiture. Earlier charges included possession of methamphetamine, shoplifting, driving without a license, misdemeanor larceny and other similar offenses dating as far back as 2009.
The detention facility
The Cherokee County Detention Center began operations in the summer of 2008, replacing a jail in downtown Murphy built in 1922 designed to hold a maximum of 43 inmates.
The detention center has 150 inmate beds, including separate medical, juvenile, female and male pods. The facility is designed to handle the inmates with indirect supervision and laid out with seven separate dorms, including one 10-inmate maximum security dorm.
The facility was designed to expand to house an additional 100 inmates being a total 350 bed facility. The facility houses inmates from Cherokee and surrounding counties as well as federal inmates – like Simmons.
Reactions
N.C. Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin) posted on Facebook, “This was a senseless and tragic loss.”
Matt Lowe, a former inmate at the detention center, posted on Facebook, “It was Sgt. Flattes who booked me and was on weekend duty. He was kind, he was compassionate when he didn’t have to be. He saw the human inside the orange jumpsuit. The world, and this community, needs more like Francisco Flattes. He didn’t deserve this.”
Gov. Josh Stein ordered all U.S. and North Carolina flags at state facilities to be lowered to half-staff immediately until sunset July 1 in honor of Flattes.
Funeral service
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the family, invites the public to attend the service honoring Officer Francisco Flattes, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty on June 30, 2025.
Date: Wednesday, July 9.
Viewing: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Funeral: 1 p.m.
Location: Tri-County Community College’s Enloe Building in Peachtree.
Your presence will be a meaningful tribute to Flattes’ bravery and commitment to service. Due to the anticipated turnout, attendees are encouraged to carpool. Additional viewing rooms will be available at the college, and the service will be streamed via Facebook Live on the sheriff’s office page for those unable to attend.
Out of respect for the Flattes family, no cameras or video recording devices will be permitted during the service.
A formal procession will occur both before and after the service:
- Route to service: Begins at Townson-Rose Funeral Home, proceeds to the main red light, then turns east on U.S. 19/74/129 toward Marble. At the Marble traffic signal, the procession will turn right onto N.C. 141, to arrive at the college.
- Return route: The procession will return to Townson-Rose Funeral Home via the same route.
- Public viewing encouraged: Community members are invited to safely line the route to pay their respects. Use designated parking lots when possible. If parking roadside, pull fully off the road and remain aware of traffic. For safety reasons, the public is asked not to follow the procession.
How to help
Anyone wishing to make a donation to Flattes’ family may do so in the following ways:
- Civic Federal Credit Union, 57 Valley River Ave., Murphy, NC 28906.
Request to make a donation to Tresia Flattes.
- Copper Basin Federal Credit Union, Copperhill branch: 771 Ocoee St., Copperhill, TN 37317;
Blue Ridge branch: 85 Orvin Lance Drive, Blue Ridge, GA 30513.
- Back the Blue NC Inc.: gofundme.com/.../benefit-for-the-family-of...
- GoFundMe: Fundraiser established by a close Flattes family friend: gofundme.com/.../donate-to-support-francisco...