Lawsuit: NC police acted as ‘firing squad’ when they shot and killed fleeing man
A lawsuit filed by a man’s mother claims that Hickory police shot him while he tried to flee, then kept shooting him once he was on the ground. He died from his wounds.
Three officers unleashed a “barrage” of more than 30 rounds at Timothy Craig Setzer Jr., according to the lawsuit filed last week in Catawba County Superior Court. The incident happened in 2023, the lawsuit said. He was 27, according to his obituary.
Setzer’s mother, Bonnie Alemeta-Christina Tolley, sued the city of Hickory and three police officers: Aaron Caine Travis, Austin Ryan Steele and Isam Gamal Shamseldin.
The police department declined to comment about the case to The Charlotte Observer.
Details in the Hickory lawsuit
Hickory police responded to a call reporting gunfire at Hickory Optimist Park just after midnight on Aug. 13, 2023, the lawsuit said. Officers got a report of Setzer yelling and walking the wrong way down the road on Second Avenue while they were en route, the lawsuit said.
Steele told Setzer to stop and show his hands, according to the lawsuit, and Setzer followed that order then started to walk away before he “began to flee on foot.”
“Prior to fleeing on foot, Mr. Setzer did not brandish a weapon, make threats or commit any acts of violence” against the police, the suit said. Shamseldin arrived soon after, pulled out his gun, pointed it at Setzer and gave chase on foot, according to the suit.
“Don’t you move, don’t you move, I swear to f—ing God, don’t you f—ing move!” Shamseldin shouted, the suit alleged. Travis and his trainee arrived in a patrol car, the suit said, as Setzer kept fleeing with his back to the officers.
From about 30 to 40 feet away, Steele and Shamseldin shot Setzer in the back while they chased him on foot, his mother alleged. She claimed in her lawsuit that Travis fired shots at Setzer from the window of his patrol car.
The scene was “disturbingly similar” to an “execution by firing squad” as they shot him even after he fell, the suit claimed. When he was still, the shooting stopped, Tolley’s suit alleged.
No officer was injured during their confrontation with Setzer, who died at the scene, according to the suit.
In SBI interviews, the officers claimed that Setzer had a gun and they were responding to the threat, according to the suit. That lawsuit said body camera footage contradicted claims that they saw a gun.
“In fact, body-worn camera footage shows that Mr. Setzer never stopped running, never turned toward the officers and never aimed any object in their direction,” the family said in the lawsuit.
After a nine-hour search by police, an SBI agent found a gun in the nearby woods, but no physical evidence linked it to Setzer, the lawsuit said.
Setzer’s mother has asked for a jury trial. Her lawsuit accused police of excessive force, assault and battery, wrongful death, negligence and other claims. She is being represented by four attorneys based in Newton and Charlotte.
“Police cannot kill an unarmed, non-dangerous person just to stop them from getting away,” one of her lawyers, Micheal Littlejohn, said in a statement.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 6:22 AM.