No friendly fire in deadly east Charlotte shooting that killed four officers: CMPD

CMPD Deputy Chief Tonya Arrington.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — There was no friendly fire during the deadly shooting that killed four law enforcement officers on April 29, police said Friday evening.

Assistant Chief Arrington of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department reported the location of the suspect, Terry Hughes Jr., as he fired at officers at the Galway Drive home. Officers determined he was using an AR-15 pistol and exited through a second-story window in the front of the home.

Hughes also had a handgun, but the AR-15 was the only one that could shoot or fire at officers, Arrington said, and there were no other guns in the house. A U.S. Marshals task force was attempting to serve a warrant for Hughes' arrest on gun-related criminal charges, and CMPD officers ultimately assisted them.

Hughes was killed by officers, a total of eight officers were hit by gunfire, and four were killed. Gunfire was exchanged for more than 17 minutes, what Arrington calls “an eternity.”

Arrington said officers used a tactic called “suppression fire” on the second-story windows of the home so other officers could evacuate the injured.

Arrington said the two women inside the home not only were not involved in the shooting, but they were not injured. Police say they were checked at the scene for gunshot residue.

Arrington said the investigation involved more than 1,100 body-worn camera clips, 8,000 images, 6,000 police interviews and 10,000 pieces of evidence.

“It was a chaotic, fast-moving scene,” Arrington said. “Circumstances were changing from minute to minute. This was an unprecedented tragedy in this community.

The investigation is ongoing and CMPD is the sole investigating agency.

The four officers killed were CMPD's Joshua Eyer, Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks Jr., and North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections investigators Samuel Poloche and William “Alden” Elliott.