Long history of 911 calls to Charlotte home where SWAT confronted barricaded man
A Charlotte man coaxed from his home by a SWAT team Sunday had a history of more than 46 calls for police — and at least six involuntary commitment orders — since 2017, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Maj. Dave Johnson.
Anh Thai, 32, was helped by mental health professionals after a 30-hour SWAT standoff that began Saturday morning in the Steele Creek area. He was suffering from a mental health crisis, threatening to kill his neighbors and he was barricaded in a house on Griers Fork Drive, according to a CMPD news release.
He had one outstanding order for arrest and one outstanding criminal summons for communicating threats, according to CMPD.
Thai approached the front door, seemingly ready to surrender, several times throughout the 30 hours, Johnson said. At one point, a SWAT officer shot at Thai late Saturday morning after he appeared in the doorway holding a handgun for the second time, Johnson said. He was not injured.
Police were on the scene from about 6:45 a.m. Saturday to 1:30 p.m. Sunday. While police tried to negotiate with Thai over the phone, he reached out to the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Veterans Administration, Johnson said. He is not a veteran.
CMPD sent two drones and a bomb squad robot into the house, Johnson said. Thai damaged both drones and struck the robot with a baseball bat, he said.
Thai’s mother was originally in the house with him, but officers got her out of the residence where she assisted police with negotiations. Police provided her with resources to make sure she had proper housing and resources, Johnson said.
In the past 12 months alone, there have been 17 calls for service — 911 calls or police dispatch — to the house, Johnson said. He described this weekend’s event as a “tremendous inconvenience to neighbors,” who were aware Thai had multiple weapons inside the home and reported several issues with him over the years.
When society doesn’t invest in mental health resources, people lose the ability to be properly housed, medicated or seek help, Johnson said. Their actions then become a community problem and, sometimes, a policing problem.
CMPD has been involved in at least two high-profile mental health crises in the last year. Both were passed to the State Bureau of Investigations for further review.
Charlotte police and mental health crises
In January, a CMPD officer shot at a man after police arrived to serve involuntary commitment order paperwork — a procedure followed when a judge deems a person in mental health distress a danger to themselves or others. When they arrived, a man was actively shooting at the house near Back Creek Church Road in the Wyndam Place subdivision in University City, the Observer reported previously.
CMPD did not specify whether the man was injured in the shooting but said no officers were injured and two people from the home were taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Mecklenburg County’s District Attorney’s Office determined earlier this month the CMPD officer who shot and killed a woman after she shot at police in her home in August would not be criminally charged.
The officer shot and killed Brenda Donahue, 60, after police arrived to serve involuntary commitment order paperwork.
Donahue’s husband told authorities she locked herself in her room and had been drunk for five days, according to interviews included in a report by the DA’s office.
Video footage from a police body-worn camera showed Donahue shot and hit a police officer who was standing outside Donahue’s bedroom door within moments of the officers entering the home.
This story was originally published March 13, 2023 at 3:11 PM.
