PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The Greensboro police officer killed in a supermarket shooting Monday has ties to New Jersey.

Action News has learned that Officer Michael Horan was a member of the Beach Haven Beach Patrol for more than two decades before joining the Greensboro Police Department in 2018.

Officer Horan was fatally shot while responding to a call at a Food Lion just two days before Christmas. The suspect, now identified as 34-year-old Tarell Isaac McMillian, also led police on a high-speed chase before eventually being taken into custody hours later and 150 miles from the grocery store.

Greensboro police said he was an “excellent” officer with an outstanding reputation. He was also a husband and father.

Horan served in the department’s patrol division. He was also a member of the U.S. Coast Guard since 2000, according to his LinkedIn profile and other sources.

The North Carolina Sheriff’s Association called the shooting “a senseless tragedy,” adding that it “illustrates the dangers police officers face every day in the line of duty.”

How the shootout and chase unfolded

Officer Horan was called to the Food Lion store on Lawndale Drive just off Interstate 840 in north Greensboro after reports came in just before 11 a.m. of a man with a gun inside the store.

The State Bureau of Investigation said they encountered Horan shortly after his arrival and a brief fight ensued. Greensboro police say McMillian then pulled out a gun and shot the officer before getting into a car and driving away.

Horan did not have time to draw or fire his weapon, the SBI said.

“The circumstances leading up to the shooting are currently under investigation,” Deputy Police Chief MJ Harris said during a news conference Monday afternoon.

According to the SBI, the chase began in Johnston County when officers spotted the suspect vehicle and began pursuing it. Sampson County deputies joined in and then the Highway Patrol took over.

The chase ended at Exit 355 (NC-403) near Warsaw at the Duplin County Line.

The SBI said charges are still pending.

Horan is the second Greensboro police officer killed in the past 12 months. Officer Philip Dale Nix was off-duty when he was shot at a supermarket in Sheetz on December 30, 2023 while attempting to stop a crime in progress. Three people were arrested in Nix’s shooting.