ELIZABETHTOWN — An Elizabethtown man was killed at Tory Hole Park on Thursday night during an altercation.

According to Elizabethtown Police Chief Bobby Kinlaw, Ricky N. Carroll, 41, was shot multiple times shortly after 9 p.m.. Kinlaw said the shooter was John C. Stoker, 22, also of Elizabethtown.

The incident, which took place under the Hwy. 701 bridge at the Tory Hole Park boat ramp parking lot, was reported to police at 9:24 p.m.

“We’ve been told there was a confrontation between the two, but we don’t yet have a lot of details,” Kinlaw said.

The chief did say that it appeared Carroll had a metal pipe and that “indications are that he used it during an assault” on Stoker. Kinlaw added that Stoker shot the deceased “multiple times,” and that Carroll’s body has been taken to Chapel Hill for an autopsy.

Stoker was transported to Bladen County Hospital with what Kinlaw said were multiple injuries, including “one over the eye.” Kinlaw said he wasn’t sure Friday morning whether Stoker had been released from the hospital.

Elizabethtown Police, which is the lead agency in the investigation, called in the State Bureau of Investigation’s Mobile Crime Lab to process the crime scene. The SBI will also assist Elizabethtown Police with the investigation.

Kinlaw said a 9mm handgun was recovered as part of the investigation, but that it has not yet been verified as the weapon used in the shooting.

Kinlaw said the investigation is still in its early stages, so no charges have been filed.

“We have to look at everything, and so far we’re only getting one side of the story — the other side we’re not going to get,” Kinlaw said. “But given the circumstances we know right now, we have to look at this as a possible self-defense situation.”

Kinlaw said he planned to meet with the Bladen County District Attorney’s Office on Friday as part of the investigation.