CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Investigators are piecing together the timeline of a shootout that left four officers dead in Charlotte on Monday. One of the biggest questions being asked is, was there a second shooter? Police said they aren't ruling out the possibility, but they need to get through bodycam footage to nail down a timeline.
Four law enforcement officers died and four others were injured in the ambush. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said the officers killed the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes Jr., after he fired on them.
So far, Hughes is the only shooting suspect CMPD has identified, but police are looking into whether Hughes fired more shots when he was down, or if someone else did.
"It's very difficult to tell, because on the body-worn camera footage that I’ve seen at this point, we are trying to locate exactly when that individual was down and where he was when he was down. He could have possibly been firing additional rounds on the ground, we just don’t know right now," Chief Jennings said.
Chief Jennings said they initially thought there might be multiple shooters because of gunfire coming from the front and back of the house.
“The officers were actually approaching the residence when they took on gunfire. The suspect, at the time, had an upper advantage to the officers, so he was shooting from upstairs, down at the officers, both front and back, which also could be an indication that we thought maybe there were multiple shooters at the time too, because gunshots were coming from multiple locations within the house. So that’s part of the investigation we have to sort through, and we will certainly come to a conclusion on that at some point,” Chief Jennings explained.
Police said they recovered an AR-15 rifle as well as a 40-caliber handgun from the home. Two women who were in the home are also being questioned. One of them is a juvenile. Police said they were in the home voluntarily but did not disclose their relationship to the Hughes.
Chief Jennings said both women are cooperating in the investigation, and they have not been charged at this time.