Charlotte police investigation into the deaths of four police officers reveals that the suspect acted alone; no friendly fire

CHARLOTTE, NC (AP) — A man who shot and killed four police officers with an assault rifle a month ago acted alone and was solely responsible for all of the victims, police in North Carolina’s largest city said Friday.

“At this point in the investigation, it is clear that there was a shooter and no friendly fire,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Deputy Police Chief Tonya Arrington told reporters.

Four other police officers were injured in the April 29 incident in a residential neighborhood. It is the deadliest shooting of police officers since 2016, when a sniper killed five police officers at a protest in Dallas. President Joe Biden traveled to Charlotte and met privately with the families of the slain police officers.

Officers from a Charlotte-based U.S. Marshals Task Force came under fire at a home while attempting to execute warrants for possession of a firearm by a former felon and attempted escape. Police officers shot and killed 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes Jr., who was wanted in neighboring Lincoln County.

Hughes was on the second floor of the house. Arrington said he was running between the windows, which made some think there might have been two shooters. There were two women in the house with him, but the investigation determined they did not fire at the officers, she said.

“The suspect ordered the female occupants to get out or lie down before firing his weapon at the officers,” Arrington said. “All evidence shows there was only one shooter in this incident.”

She also said that no other weapons were found in the house, so the women had nothing to shoot with.

At least 12 officers fired their weapons while shooting at the suspect for more than 17 minutes. “That’s an eternity; they were engaged in a firefight,” Arrington said.

Hughes, who was armed with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle and a .40-caliber pistol, which he did not fire during the shootout, then jumped from a second-story window and was shot and killed by police officers in the front yard.

Police still believed there might have been a second shooter and then moved in with an armored car to evacuate the injured officers. They saw movement from a second-story window, according to Arrington.

Officers “deployed barrages at two targeted locations from which the suspect fired to facilitate the evacuation of our wounded officers. Based on this evidence, there was no friendly fire in this case,” she said.

Arrington said the investigation was massive and included the review of body-worn camera video, 8,900 images, 65 officer interviews and 765 pieces of evidence.

“This was a gunman who was determined to try to kill police officers that day,” Arrington said.

The officers killed were Sam Poloche and William Elliott of the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections, Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer Joshua Eyer and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks.

Police Chief Johnny Jennings said officers are still coming to terms with the “most tragic time in the history of our department.”

“Some are doing better than others … but the bottom line is we’re going to keep going,” he said.