Eight law-enforcement officers were shot, four fatally, during a shootout outside of a home in North Carolina. The officers were serving a warrant to an individual wanted for possessing a firearm when the shooting began.
When marshals approached a home on the 5000 block of Galway Drive in Charlotte, the subject of the warrant began shooting at them in the front yard, police said. Officers shot back and fatally struck the man.
As officers responded to that initial shooting, more gunfire rang out from inside the home, injuring four Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department officers, one of whom is in critical condition, and another from an unnamed agency.
“Today we lost some heroes who were out simply trying to keep our community safe,” Jennings said at a news conference.
After the shooting, a “high-power rifle” was taken from the home and two additional people, including a 17-year-old, were brought to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police station as persons of interest, Jennings said.
The Marshals Service confirmed one of its agents was killed. Two officers from the state adult corrections department also were killed, said the North Carolina governor Roy Cooper. The governor was in Charlotte and was speaking to the families of the officers killed and hurt. Their names have not been released.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Joshua Eyer died a few hours later at the hospital, Jennings said. Eyer was named the officer of the month for the force for April a few weeks ago, the chief said.
Jennings described the incident as the most tragic one he has been part of in his 32 years with the police department. “I can’t imagine that there’s one any worse than what we’re seeing today,” he said.
“This is a good example of what we try to tell people every single day: when we put on this uniform we don’t have any guarantees that we’ll return home. But we have a lot of great men and women across this entire country that do it every day to make sure you’re safe in your communities.
Vi Lyles, the Charlotte mayor, said she has been contacted by the White House and a host of state officials to ask what the community needs as they sort through the events of the day and plan for memorials to honor the officers.
after newsletter promotion
“We’ve lost three people,” Lyles said during the news conference. “They lost their lives after they gave us the opportunity to be in a safe place. We know that there is a reason that everything happens and sometimes we don’t understand it.”
The identity of the subject of the warrant and that of the suspected second shooter has not been released.
“A lot of the questions that need to be answered, we don’t even know what those questions are now,” Jennings said, briefing reporters less than four hours after the shooting. “We have to get a full understanding of why this occurred and also uphold the integrity of the investigation.”