North Carolina police examine whether multiple shooters involved in killing of four officers

[May 01, 2024]  By Katharine Jackson
 
(Reuters) - Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, said on Tuesday they were investigating whether more than one shooter opened fire a day earlier in the gun battle that killed four law enforcement officers who were trying to serve a fugitive arrest warrant at a home.  

Gunfire broke out on Monday as officers from the U.S. Marshals Office approached the home to serve a warrant for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. They returned fire and the fugitive was fatally shot in the front yard during the gunfight, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Two females who were inside the home during the standoff are cooperating with the investigation and police are not looking at additional persons of interest, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department chief Johnny Jennings said at a news conference.

"We're not ruling out the possibility that someone else was firing as well," Jennings said. He said police were still reviewing the timeline and police body camera footage.

Jennings said investigators recovered an AR-15 rifle, a 40-caliber handgun and additional ammunition from the home.

Three of the officers who were killed were part of a U.S. Marshals Task Force and the fourth slain officer was with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Jennings said.

Four other officers were injured in the shooting. One remained in the hospital on Tuesday and was expected to make a full recovery. Three others been released from the hospital, Jennings said.

"It's just been very tough, knowing that you have families that are hurting right now," he said.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said he had met one of the wounded officers and families of those killed at the hospital.

"The investigation into this tragic, brutal, deadly attack will result in more answers that we don't know today, and I expect it to find those answers and bring to justice people for these needless deaths of these brave officers," Cooper told reporters at the news conference.

In response to the shooting, President Joe Biden on Monday called for additional action to combat gun violence in the United States.

"Leaders in Congress need to step up so that we ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns, and pass universal background checks and a national red flag law," Biden said in a statement.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by David Gregorio)

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