A Union Academy school boys' basketball coach was killed when he tried to rob a drug cartel's stash house, Yahoo News reported Thursday.
The Alamance County Sheriff's office said Barney Harris and another person went to the house last week to steal money and drugs from the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
There, the two men exchanged gunshots with members of the cartel.
Harris and an alleged cartel member died.
Harris' partner Steven Alexander Stewart Jr. was later identified as his brother-in-law. He was arrested and charged with murder and burglary.
Harris was the basketball coach at Union Academy in Monroe where he was respected, but Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson said there was another side to Harris that most people weren't aware of - his involvement in illegal drugs.
During the investigation, the Sheriff's Office confiscated five firearms, around $7,000 in cash and more than a kilo of suspected cocaine. Police also found two vehicles in the crime scene.
According to investigators, Harris was wearing a bulletproof vest that didn't protect him.
"It was believed it was a home invasion for money and drugs...numerous guns were used. It was almost like an old western shootout," Johnson said.
Authorities believe Harris and Stewart had been tracking members of the cartel with an electronic monitoring device before the shootout.
Johnson said he's concerned that the shootout could lead to a drug war with the cartel seeking revenge against Harris' loved ones, WSOC-TV said.
