A Charlotte Mecklenburg Police officer investigating gunshots in the Woodlawn Road area shot and wounded an armed suspect early Wednesday in a hotel parking lot in 100 block of East Woodlawn Road, police said.
The suspect was transported by MEDIC to Carolinas Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. He was reportedly wounded in the leg. The officer was not injured. Identities of the suspect and officer have not been released, and the officer is on standard administrative leave while the shooting is investigated by the Internal Affairs Bureau.
Police say the shooting occurred at 1:40 a.m. in the parking lot of the Days Inn at 118 E. Woodlawn Road. An officer in the area said she heard multiple gunshots, pulled into the parking lot and immediately encountered a man armed with a handgun.
“This officer perceived that this subject was an imminent deadly threat at which time she fired her service weapon, striking the subject,” said a statement from the police department. “Additional officers arrived and immediately provided medical assistance to the subject including applying a tourniquet.”
The firearm that the subject was carrying has been recovered at the scene, police said.
A man who said he was a witness told WSOC-TV that the man fired twice at police before the officer returned fire, though police have no confirmed that. The station also said that witnesses said they had video of the incident and that it was being reviewed by police.
Internal Affairs Bureau will conduct a separate but parallel investigations to determine whether CMPD policies and procedures were adhered to during the course of the incident, police said.
The incident follows a fatal police shooting in Charlotte last month, which sparked a week of protests, including vandalism and looting of more than two dozen sites in uptown. Activists concluded the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, who was armed, was an example of unwarranted police violence against African American suspects, and they have demanded that the police chief and mayor be replaced.
Scott, 43, was African American, and the officer, Brentley Vinson, 26, is also black.
Anyone with information about the latest incident is asked to call 704-432-TIPS and speak directly to a Homicide Unit Detective. Detective Ladd is the leaddetective assigned to the case. The public can also call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or visit the Crime Stoppers mobile app website athttp://charlottecrimestoppers.com/.