Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police offices shot and killed a man late Thursday who, according to the officers involved, was armed with a handgun and matched the description of a suspect wanted for a non-fatal shooting aboard a CATS bus.
It was the fifth fatal officer-involved shooting by a CMPD officer in the last six months, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Events that led to the latest shooting began shortly after 10 p.m., when officers received a call about a shooting aboard a Charlotte Area Transit System bus on N. Tryon Street in the University City Division. The caller said the male suspect had gotten off the bus and was last seen walking on N. Tryon Street toward uptown Charlotte.
As officers approached the scene, according to a CMPD spokesman, they saw a male walking in the 7700 block of N. Tryon Street who fit the description of the shooting suspect.
“The two officers exited their patrol vehicles, and engaged with the suspect,” said the CMPD spokesman, Keith Trietley. “They determined him to be armed with a handgun. During the encounter, they perceived an imminent deadly threat and fired their service weapons striking the subject.”
CMPD did not say what caused the officers to perceive the man to be an “imminent and deadly threat.”
Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. The officers were not injured.
CMPD said the names suspect killed and the officers who shot him would be released “at a later time.”
The person who was shot aboard the CATS bus was taken to Carolinas Medical Center with injuries described as non-life threatening.
The officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure, while CMPD investigates the shooting.
According to the Observer, other recent officer-involved shootings were:
▪ Dec. 24. Daquan Westbrook, 19, was fatally shot by Officer Thomas Ferguson, who was working a security job at Northlake Mall. Westbrook had shot a man inside a Journeys store during an altercation. Police say he turned and pointed his gun toward Ferguson.
▪ Jan. 3. Germonta Wallace, 30, was shot by a total of eight officers with the department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, which had tracked the murder suspect to a duplex off Remount Road. Police say Wallace and another suspect happened upon investigating officers and that Wallace opened fire.
▪ Jan. 5: Carlton Murphy was shot and killed after firing dozens of rounds at officers responding to a shots-fired call at a West Charlotte apartment. Witnesses said Murphy seemed intent on killing officers, taunting: “I just killed one. I can kill more.”
▪ April 19: Sylasone Ackhavong was shot and killed by a SWAT officer after a standoff at a convenience store at Tuckaseegee and Little Rock roads in west Charlotte. Ackhavong had threatened to kill himself and pointed his gun toward officers. He was shot and killed by SWAT officers Olin Lester and Derek Rud. Lester was involved in a fatal shooting under similar circumstances in 2013.
Anyone with information is the Thursday night shooting is asked to call 704-432-TIPS and speak directly to a homicide detective, or call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or visit the Crime Stoppers website at http://charlottecrimestoppers.com.
