Man shot by Charlotte police called 911 to report he had a gun, neighbors upset him

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers shot a person armed with a handgun in east Charlotte Saturday morning, police said in a series of tweets.

“All Officers ok,” the department tweeted at 10:42 a.m. “Thought and prayers for everyone involved.”

The person was shot in the 3900 block of Winfield Drive, off Woodland Drive and East Independence Boulevard, according to police.

Saturday night, police identified the suspect as 29-year-old Bobby Morgan. Police said Morgan was “being treated at an area hospital” but did not release his condition.

Shortly after 11 a.m., police tweeted the first of two updates, saying the “scene is now secure and the neighborhood is safe. Subject has been transported to the hospital.”

In its third tweet, CMPD said officers “recovered the handgun” the person had during the encounter with police.

About 8:30 a.m., two CMPD officers encountered the armed man after responding to a “noise dispute” called in by neighbors, CMPD Chief Kerr Putney told reporters at a media staging area at East Independence Boulevard and Woodland Drive.

In a news release later Saturday, CMPD said the shooting suspect called police.

“A male caller stated that he had a gun and was upset with his neighbors,” the news release said. “Upon arrival, officers were positioned outside of the caller’s (subject’s) home when they heard shots being fired from inside of the residence. The caller (subject) then barricaded himself inside his home.”

CMPD SWAT team members and negotiators arrived “to coordinate a peaceful resolution,” according to the department’s news release. Police set up a perimeter outside the home, according to the release, and saw “the armed subject at the window of the home displaying a weapon. The armed subject then exited the home.

“Officers issued several verbal commands to the subject, ordering him to drop the gun but the subject refused to cooperate,” according to CMPD’s news release. “Officers perceived an imminent, deadly threat and subsequently fired their weapons. The subject was immediately detained and provided medical attention before being transported to the hospital with gunshot wounds. A handgun was later recovered at the scene.”

At the news conference, Putney said police “saw him, as we engaged with him, were talking to him, he retreated back into the residence and started firing rounds,” according to a video of Putney’s remarks that CMPD posted on Twitter. “Our officers stepped back, he continued to fire rounds. They perceived the imminent threat obviously and returned fire. He’s been struck a couple of times, don’t know how many exactly just yet.”

A SWAT team was called to the scene after the shots were fired at the first two officers, Putney said. In the home, police later found the handgun used in the shooting, the chief said.

In a news release Saturday night, CMPD identified the officers “who fired their weapons in the incident” as Joshua Skipper, Edward Gonzalez and Derek Rud.

Skipper is a patrol officer in CMPD’s Eastway Division and has been with the department since Dec. 5, 2005, according to the news release. Gonzalez, also a patrol officer in the Eastway Division, has been with the department since March 24, 2003, the news release said. Rud is an investigator and has been with CMPD since July 18, 2005, according to the release.

Putney said police have been at the home “multiple times, especially in the past year,” for “varied” reasons. Officers knew the shooting suspect, knew he “was armed with the gun” and “were trying to establish a rapport, just weren’t successful at it.”

Putney said he could not immediately provide the reasons police responded to the home in the past.

Neighbors told reporters at the scene that the home was for people receiving “transitional” help, but Putney said he could not immediately confirm that.

According to the department’s news release earlier Saturday, CMPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau “will conduct a separate but parallel investigation to determine whether CMPD policies and procedures were adhered to during the course of the incident.

“Per department protocol, the officers involved in this case have been placed on administrative leave which is standard anytime an officer discharges their weapon.”

This story was originally published December 1, 2018 at 11:33 AM.