One person shot, killed by police officers in NE Charlotte

Two police officers shot and killed an armed man who was suspected of shooting and seriously injuring another man on a Charlotte city bus Thursday night, authorities said.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have not released the name of the man who was killed or any of the officers involved. The initial shooting victim was taken to Carolinas Medical Center and treated for a nonlife-threatening injury. His identity has not been released either.

Officers were summoned to North Tryon Street near University City Boulevard just after 10 p.m. by someone who said a man had been shot on a CATS bus, according to a CMPD news releases. The caller reported seeing the shooter walking on North Tryon Street toward uptown Charlotte.

As officers approached the scene, they saw the suspect and got out of their patrol cruisers to engage him. That’s when the officers determined the man was armed, police said.

“During the encounter, they perceived an imminent deadly threat and fired their service weapons striking the subject,” according to the news release. Paramedics pronounced the suspect dead on the scene. The officers weren’t injured.

Investigators told WBTV, the Observer’s news partner, that they recovered a weapon from the dead man.

The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave as the department conducts parallel criminal and internal investigations. That’s standard procedure when officers kill someone in the line of duty.

Police had roped off the crime scene — in the shadow of the light rail tracks under construction near a 24-hour Wal-Mart — as they investigated. Northbound Tryon Street was closed in the area but expected to reopen by morning.

Thursday’s shooting was the fifth fatal officer-involved by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer in the last six months.

The others:

▪ Dec. 24. Daquan Westbrook, 19, was fatally shot by Officer Thomas Ferguson, who was working a security job at Northlake Mall. Westbrook had shot a man inside a Journeys store during an altercation. Police say he turned and pointed his gun toward Ferguson.

▪ Jan. 3. Germonta Wallace, 30, was shot by a total of eight officers with the department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, which had tracked the murder suspect to a duplex off Remount Road. Police say Wallace and another suspect happened upon investigating officers and that Wallace opened fire.

▪ Jan. 5: Carlton Murphy was shot and killed after firing dozens of rounds at officers responding to a shots-fired call at a West Charlotte apartment. Witnesses said Murphy seemed intent on killing officers, taunting: “I just killed one. I can kill more."

▪ April 19: Sylasone Ackhavong was shot and killed by a SWAT officer after a standoff at a convenience store at Tuckaseegee and Little Rock roads in west Charlotte. Ackhavong had threatened to kill himself and pointed his gun toward officers. He was shot and killed by SWAT officers Olin Lester and Derek Rud. Lester was involved in a fatal shooting under similar circumstances in 2013.

Police encouraged anyone with information on Thursday night’s shooting or the events leading up to it to call 704-432-TIPS (8477) to speak to a homicide detectives. People with information can also call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.

This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 11:45 PM with the headline "One person shot, killed by police officers in NE Charlotte."