CANTON, N.C. (AP) -- Authorities have charged a Florida man with murder in the slaying of a state Highway Patrol trooper who was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 40 in western North Carolina.

Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said 37-year-old Edwardo Wong II of Ormond Beach, Fla., was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder.

Clendenin said 24-year-old Trooper David Shawn Blanton Jr. was shot during an altercation after he stopped a vehicle about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Wong is being held without bond at the Haywood County Jail, about 20 miles west of Asheville. A jail administrator didn't immediately return a phone message seeking information about whether Wong had a lawyer.

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