WILMINGTON, N.C. -- The New Hanover County Sheriff's Office doesn't plan to make any revisions to training or operating policies after an accidental shooting killed an 18-year-old college student in December.

Maj. Arch Jones, a supervising officer for the Sheriff's Office Emergency Response Team, said officials "didn't see anything in training that could have changed or prevented this."

"It was a mistake, and I don't see how you could prevent a mistake," he said.

Christopher Long, a former member of the Emergency Response Team, shot Peyton Strickland through his front door Dec. 1 as authorities attempted to serve search and arrest warrants. Long said he mistook the sound of a police battering ram for gunshots.

Police believe that Strickland, a Cape Fear Community College student, and two others had robbed and assaulted a student at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Two PlayStation 3 consoles were taken from the UNC Wilmington student during the attack.

Campus police had asked the sheriff's department for help in the investigation after viewing photos on the Internet of Strickland's friends posing with a shotgun, an assault rifle and handguns.

Long has since been fired from the sheriff's department. New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David failed to win a second-degree murder indictment against him, but state prosecutors are now reviewing the case.

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