NEW YORK -- Three members of a US Marshals fugitive task force were killed and five others were wounded in a gunfire on Monday afternoon as they were conducting an investigation in a suburban area of Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina, local police said.

A suspect was killed in the gunfire in the front yard of a home and two other people were found in the home, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a press briefing.

The law enforcement officers were serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm when the gunfire broke out, according to media reports.