Three officers from a U.S. Marshals Task Force executing an arrest warrant for a felon wanted for gun possession were killed and five other officers were injured in a shooting Monday at a North Carolina home , the police said.
Shots were fired at police by wanted suspect as they approached suburban Charlotte home and killed in front yard, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief said , Johnny Jennings, during a press conference.
A second person then shot at officers from inside the home where a high-powered rifle was found, Jennings added.
A 17-year-old woman and man were found in the home after a three-hour standoff in which armored vehicles crashed into the suburban home in a tree-lined neighborhood and tore off doors and windows. Windows. Both are being questioned, Jennings said.
“Today we lost heroes who were just trying to keep our community safe,” Jennings said.
The marshal’s service confirmed that one of its agents had been killed and did not release his name. Two state Department of Adult Corrections officers were also killed, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said.
Another member of the task force, made up of federal agents and other officers from across the region, was injured.
Four Charlotte-Mecklenburg officers who responded to the scene were also shot while attempting to rescue the injured officers. One remains in critical condition, Jennings said.
According to neighbors, the shooting continued for several minutes.
WSOC-TV said their helicopter captured an armored vehicle driving through yards and knocking over recycling bins before officers evacuated a person with blood on his shirt who was then loaded into an ambulance.
Once the house was cleared, the helicopter pilot said he could not show the lawn in front of the house because the scene was too graphic and disturbing.
Several armored vehicles sat on nearby lawns and driveways in an older suburban neighborhood, on a street lined with trees and brick houses. A broken window and torn blinds were in a street and an entire door was propped up against one of the vehicles.
“A lot of questions that need to be answered, we don’t even know what those questions are now,” Jennings said less than four hours after the shooting. “We need to fully understand why this happened and also uphold the integrity of the investigation.
Many area roads, including Interstate 77, were closed so ambulances could get to hospitals more quickly. Television images showed ambulances speeding towards hospitals, escorted by vehicles in front and behind with their sirens blaring.
Rissa Reign was cleaning her house when she heard the first shots ring out. There was a pause, then a second round of shots, then a third. She left.
“When we came out, there were no cops, and then the cops started rushing, rushing, rushing, rushing,” she said, adding that armored SWAT trucks quickly followed and that they were “passing over the grass, everything, and they started shooting.” Again.”
Kiashia Williams was driving home when she heard several gunshots spaced seconds apart.
“Ambulances and police and everyone everywhere started rushing,” Williams said as she waited in her car to be allowed to go home and check on her daughter, who broadcast what she seen on social networks.
Four Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools were placed on lockdown around dismissal in the afternoon, but that was lifted late in the afternoon, the district said.
Police urged people to stay away from the area and asked residents to stay home until the all-clear is given.
The last marshal killed in the line of duty was in November 2018. Chase White was shot and killed in Tucson, Arizona, by a man wanted for stalking local law enforcement, the agency said.
The Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force is headquartered in Charlotte and includes 70 federal, state and local agencies. Fugitive task forces are collaborations between agencies to search for and arrest crime suspects.
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 responding to a domestic dispute between a person not directly involved in the fight. Demeatrius Antonio Montgomery is serving a life sentence for the murders of Officers Jeffrey Shelton and Sean Clark.
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