CMPD rules out second shooter, friendly fire in April 29 police shootout in Charlotte

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police confirmed Friday that there was only one shooter firing at officers on April 29 when they tried to arrest him, an incident in which eight officers were shot, four fatally.

The officers exchanged gunfire with Terry Clark Hughes Jr., who moved between several second-floor windows of the house on Galway Drive before he jumped from a window at the front of the home and was fatally shot by police.

“Officers were actively engaged with gunfire from the suspect for over 17 minutes,” said Deputy Chief Tonya Arrington. “That’s an eternity. They were in a gun battle.”

Arrington and Police Chief Johnny Jennings provided the updates at a press briefing at police headquarters.

Police also confirmed that all shell casings found inside the home were from the AR-15 Hughes was using, Arrington said. Hughes also had a handgun on him when he jumped from the window, but it wasn’t used in the shootout.

Because the home had not been cleared and deemed safe, and because an officer saw movement from one of the windows where Hughes had been shooting even after he was outside, officers used “suppressive fire” on the windows for another two minutes to give law enforcement time to evacuate those who were wounded, Arrington said.

“We know this was not sympathetic or friendly fire,” Arrington said, confirming something the chief had previously said. “We can confirm that the suspect was responsible for all who were shot in the line of duty that day.”

A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force made of federal, state and local officers had gone to the home to arrest Hughes on pending warrants for eluding police in a January chase in Lincoln County and felonious possession of a firearm, officials have said. But Hughes began firing at them with an AR-15 rifle.

Three task force members were killed: State Department of Adult Correction Officers William “Alden” Elliott and Sam Poloche, and Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. “Tommy” Weeks Jr. CMPD Officer Joshua Eyer, who was among officers who responded to the shooting after it started, also was killed.

Hughes told a woman and 17-year-old in the house to get out or get down before he started shooting, Arrington said.

After Hughes was shot in the front yard and the two women were safely evacuated, police used an armored vehicle to tear off the walls in the front of the house. Arrington said Friday police did that because they weren’t sure if there was another shooter inside the house or not.

Asked about the location the two women in the home during the shootout, Arrington said she didn’t have the information.

“I know that after he told them to ‘get out or get down’ that they got down,” she said.

They were “hunkered down” until Hughes was shot and killed, and then law enforcement began communication with them, Arrington said. They got out of the home safely.

“We did do gunshot residue tests on the females at the scene and that has been sent to the state, but we are confident that they were not involved in the shooting,” Arrington said.

Because they were no other guns found inside of the home, there was nothing for them to shoot at law enforcement with, she said.

Task force tactics

Arrington declined to comment on the surveillance and investigation that preceded the task force’s attempt to deliver the warrant, or if Hughes was prepared for the officers’ arrival.

She did confirm, however, that the arriving marshals task force initially used a megaphone to direct Hughes to surrender.

“It’s a tactic that we use every day, it’s called ‘surround and call out’ and what we’re doing is giving the suspect every opportunity to come out peacefully, and, you know, surrender to the officers that are there,” Arrington said. “So there’s no doubt who we are, what we’re there for.”

That is a standard protocol, she said.

Thus far the investigation has included reviewing, Arrington said, footage from 1,128 body-worn camera videos, 8,903 images, 65 officer interviews and 765 pieces of physical evidence.

“This was a rapidly evolving and chaotic scene. Circumstances were changing by the minute. We ask that you continue to respect this process, and what our law enforcement community went through that day,” Arrington said. “It was an unprecedented tragedy for this community.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2024, 8:31 PM.