Shootout that killed 4 law officers began as task force tried to serve a warrant, police say

CHARLOTTE, NC– A shootout that left four law enforcement officers dead and four others injured in North Carolina began when officers approached a home to serve an arrest warrant for a felon wanted for possession of a firearm, police said.

Some officers who rushed to the Charlotte neighborhood Monday afternoon to rescue the first wave of shot officers were injured when a second gunman began shooting at them after killing the wanted man, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said.

“Today we lost a number of heroes who were simply trying to keep our community safe,” Jennings said at a news conference.

After a three-hour standoff, the house in suburban Charlotte was torn open. Armored vehicles crashed into it, tearing out windows and entire doorways. Several armored vehicles were parked throughout yards, some with branches dangling from them.

The U.S. Marshals Task Force was fired upon by the wanted suspect as they approached the home and the man was killed in the front yard, Jennings said. Police identified him as Terry Clark Hughes Jr., 39. He was wanted for possession of a firearm by a felon and two felony counts of fleeing to escape in Lincoln County, North Carolina. A second person then shot at officers from inside the home where a high-powered rifle was found, Jennings added.

After the police Special Weapons and Tactics Team negotiated with other people in the house, two women came outside and were taken to a police station to be questioned by detectives, police said in a news release. Police had previously said a woman and a 17-year-old man were being questioned.

The Marshal’s Service confirmed that one of its officers had been killed. The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction identified two of the slain task force officers as Sam Poloche and Alden Elliot. Both had worked for the department for fourteen years. They served as probation officers before joining the department’s Special Operations and Intelligence Unit, the department said. Poloche joined in 2013 and Elliot in 2016.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer died a few hours later at the hospital, Jennings said. Eyer was named the department’s officer of the month for April a few weeks ago, the chief said.

“He certainly gave his life and dedicated his life to protecting our citizens,” Jennings said.

Another member of the task force, which includes federal agents and other officers from across the region, was injured.

Three other Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers who responded to the scene were shot while trying to save the injured officers.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper was in Charlotte and spoke with the families of the killed and injured officers.

Neighbors said the gunfire lasted several minutes.

WSOC-TV said their helicopter captured an armored vehicle driving through yards and knocking over recycling bins before officers removed a person with blood on his shirt, who was then loaded into an ambulance.

After the house was cleared, the helicopter pilot said he could not show the front yard of the house because the scene was too graphic and disturbing.

“A lot of the questions that need to be answered, we don’t even know what those questions are right now,” Jennings said, somberly briefing reporters less than four hours after the shooting. “We must gain a full understanding of why this occurred while also upholding the integrity of the investigation.”

Many area roads, including Interstate 77, were closed so ambulances could reach hospitals more quickly. TV footage showed ambulances rushing towards hospitals with sirens blaring, escorted by vehicles both in front and behind.

Rissa Reign was cleaning her house when she heard the first shots ring out. There was a pause, then a second set of shots, then a third. She stepped outside.

“When we came out, there were no police at all, and then the officers started running, rushing, rushing, running in,” she said, adding that armored SWAT trucks quickly followed and they “went across the grass, everything, and they started shooting again.”

The neighborhood, with one- and two-story brick houses and small trimmed lawns, is very safe, said Alex Rivera, who lives on a nearby street.

“I see about 50 police cars zooming in, and then I hear gunshots,” he said on the porch of the house he shares with his cousin. “I was scared because there was so much going on.”

Another neighbor, William Cunningham, was moved to tears as he sat on his porch. He said he is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm but never expected such violence in his own neighborhood.

“Bless those officers and bless their families,” he said. “No one should be killed because of a warrant.”

Four Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools were placed on lockdown around noon, but that was lifted in the late afternoon, the district said.

Police urged people to stay away and asked residents to remain in their homes until the all clear.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and spoke with Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles to express his condolences and support for the community.

“They are heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice and put us in harm’s way to keep us safe,” Biden said in a statement late Monday. “We mourn them and their loved ones. And we pray for the recovery of the brave officers who were injured.”

The last marshal to be shot while on duty was in November 2018. Chase White was shot in Tucson, Arizona, by a man wanted for stalking local law enforcement officers, the agency said.

The Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force is headquartered in Charlotte and consists of 70 federal, state and local agencies. Fugitive Task Forces are interagency partnerships to locate and arrest suspects of crimes.

In six years, the regional task force has apprehended more than 8,900 fugitives, the U.S. Marshals Service said on its website.

In March 2007, two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers were killed while responding to a domestic dispute by someone not directly involved in the fight. Demeatrius Antonio Montgomery is serving a life sentence for the murder of officers Jeffrey Shelton and Sean Clark.

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Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Contributors to this report were Peter Smith in Charlotte, North Carolina; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland.