Charlotte man shot by police officers at Concord Mills mall has died, chief says
A Charlotte man who police shot at Concord Mills mall last week has died, authorities said Tuesday.
Dominic Jeter, 23, died of his injuries “sometime this weekend,” said Concord Police Chief Gary Gacek, citing the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office in Charlotte.
“Any loss of life is tragic and I wish his family comfort in this difficult time,” Gacek said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Jeter, a suspect in a reported credit card theft, fired multiple shots at Officers Jeremy Howarth and Maria Westphal last Wednesday, Aug. 31, according to Gacek.
The officers returned fire and hit Jeter. He was flown to a Charlotte hospital, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Police have not said if one or both officers shot Jeter.
A gun recovered at the mall matched one Jeter had stolen the day before from a woman he knew, Gacek said, citing an unrelated police report.
The Hellcat handgun was stolen from the 29-year-old woman’s bag in her vehicle parked outside a HomeTowne Suites hotel on Sossamon Lane Northwest in Concord, according to a police report obtained by The Charlotte Observer Wednesday morning.
Police arrested two other suspects, Wuanell Hernandez of Charlotte and Christian Myles Tyson of Kannapolis. Both men are 21. Hernandez is being held on a $15,000 bond, according to Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office records. Tyson’s bond was set at $20,000, and he has a Sept. 15 court hearing.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the officers’ actions in Jeter’s death, which is standard protocol when an officer shoots someone.
Westphal is a two-year veteran of Concord Police, and Howarth has been with the department for two months, Gacek said. Both officers remain on administrative duty, which is standard police policy.
911 call released
The officers arrived at the mall after a man reported his credit cards stolen, according to a police report.
In a redacted 911 recording released Tuesday, the man tells a dispatcher that he had given his cards to three men outside the AMC movie theater to help him buy something.
“They just used my card to buy something else, and they just took it away from me,” he said.
The caller described the suspects to the dispatcher as he follows them toward an exit and into the parking lot. Each suspect has bags from the Finish Line athletic shoe store, he tells the dispatcher.
The suspects head toward a Discount Tire store on the outskirts of the mall property, the caller says. He loses track of one suspect, who he thinks may have headed toward a nearby T-Mobile store.
In a subsequent call, the man tells the 911 dispatcher he had walked back to his vehicle. He asks about reports of a shooting inside the mall, which the dispatcher confirms to him. The caller then says he would go home.
“It’s dangerous here,” he says.
Shoppers take shelter inside stores
Officers spotted the suspects and approached them outside the mall, police Major Todd McGhee told reporters on Wednesday.
“They ran from the officers and eventually fled back into the mall, and the officers pursued the suspects through the mall,” he said. “At the end of the foot pursuit, one of the three produced a handgun.”
Officers ordered the suspect to drop his weapon, but he fired at least one shot at them, McGhee said.
The bullet struck the ground “just in front of the police officer,” he said. “Both officers returned fire, striking the suspect. After the suspect was shot, officers called EMS and provided first aid.”
Several 911 callers, including some who took shelter inside stores, reported shots being fired inside the mall.
“Four or five shots,” a LensCrafters employee said. “It was like paw paw paw paw paw paw paw.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 12:00 AM.