‘Walk out the front door.’ NC police negotiated with suspect who fled auto parts store
A SWAT standoff on Freedom Drive in Charlotte is over, with police saying a suspected armed robber has escaped.
Early Friday morning, a stretch of Freedom Drive was shut for more than two hours as police negotiated with what they believed was an armed person inside an Advance Auto Parts store.
A SWAT team was on scene to help negotiate the standoff, which began just before 8 a.m. Around 10:45 a.m., though, police said there was no one inside and that the suspected gunman possibly left even before officers arrived.
As of late Friday, CMPD had not released a description of the suspected gunman.
Robbery turned standoff
Over the course of nearly two hours Friday morning, a police officer could be heard from nearby using a speaker system to communicate with the person CMPD officers believed to be barricaded inside the store.
The officer gave the person inside a phone number to call for communication with authorities.
“The best option right now is for you to walk out the front door,” the negotiator could be heard saying.
The male officer using the speaker told the person inside the SWAT response is for officer safety and he encouraged the person to “stand up wherever you’re at and walk to the front door.”
“Officers ... are currently implementing de-escalation tactics due to an armed suspect who is believed to be alone inside of a building. Everyone is asked to stay away from the area as officers work to peacefully de-escalate the situation,” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police tweeted at 8:55 a.m.
There were no injuries and no hostages, police have said.
The store is located at 2910 Freedom Drive in Charlotte, about 3 miles from uptown and just east of Interstate 85.
According to publicly-available emergency radio communications, CMPD received a report of a possible robbery at the business around 7:55 a.m.
Several people gathered across the street Friday morning, watching the SWAT situation unfold.
“I just came up to a get a breakfast sandwich,” said Pete Decker, a construction worker who said he was walking from his work site to a nearby Bojangles when he realized there was a problem at the Advance Auto store.
“We heard the guy on the speaker ... A lot of cop cars and SWAT team,” he said.
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 9:08 AM.
