New report details December police shootout inside Edible Arrangements in Mint Hill
Inside a Mint Hill Edible Arrangements, a man shot a police lieutenant in the mouth and an officer in the head the day after Christmas, according to new details revealed in a report from Mecklenburg District Attorney Spencer Merriweather.
The officers survived, and one of them fatally shot the man inside the store — in front of his mother, his child, and the child’s mother.
Mint Hill Police Department Lt. Jacob Smith shot back as blood was “pouring out of his mouth and his ear was ringing,” Smith told state officials who were investigating the shooting, according to a letter Merriweather wrote to N.C. State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Brandon Blackman explaining why he wasn’t charging officers in the death of Tjamel Ali Hamlin II.
Smith and Officer Nicholas Rosario responded to 911 calls about a child custody exchange at the store, at 6832 Matthews-Mint Hill Road, on Dec. 26. The child’s mother said Hamlin did not have custody of the child. Hamlin said the mother was preventing him from being a father.
When officers arrived, Hamlin was “holding onto a child tightly like a hostage,” Smith told investigators, according to Merriweather’s report. The officers told Hamlin to let the child sit down, and he did. But when the child’s mother said something to him, Hamlin slammed a door that separated the officers from each other, Smith recalled to officials.
Officers tried to get Hamlin in handcuffs, but he broke free.
“Smith heard a gunshot and saw the flash from the gun,” Merriweather wrote. Hamlin had shot Smith in the mouth and fired a bullet that grazed Rosario’s forehead.
Smith grabbed Hamlin’s .22 caliber handgun with his left hand and pulled out his own gun with his right. He told investigators Hamlin tried to reach for his service weapon before he shot Hamlin in the chest.
Rosario drew his weapon but did not shoot.
“Lieutenant Smith was justified in firing his service weapon at the decedent in defense of himself and Officer Rosario,” Merriweather wrote in his letter. “At the time Lieutenant Smith fired his weapon, he was engaged in a struggle with the decedent who had just shot and seriously injured Lieutenant Smith and another law enforcement officer. As such, the evidence suggests that Lieutenant Smith acted justifiably in defense of himself and Officer Rosario. Accordingly, the State will not pursue criminal charges.”
Before the child custody exchange, Merriweather’s report says Hamlin texted his mother and the mother of his child: “If something happens with Jacob, you will pay, and this is a threat.”
Hamlin’s mother had arranged for her brother — Hamlin’s uncle — to take the child to Florida.
As a Christmas present, the child’s mother said she bought him a trip to SeaWorld.
