CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Four law enforcement officers were killed and four others were injured after being met with “active gunfire” from a suspect inside an east Charlotte home on Monday.
It's a rare occurrence for officers in Charlotte to be shot and killed in the line of duty. The last time this happened was nearly 20 years ago.
On March 31, 2007, officers Jeff Shelton and Sean Clark were shot in the parking lot of Timber Ridge Apartments near Milton Road in east Charlotte while responding to a domestic disturbance call. That shooting happened just about a mile from where Monday's shooting unfolded.
Both officers died at Carolinas Medical Center the next morning, April 1, 2008.
A jury of 12 men and women found the shooter, Demeatrius Montgomery, guilty of first-degree murder in the officers' deaths. He was sentenced to life in prison because the judge removed the option of the death penalty early in the case.
WCNC Charlotte anchor Ben Thompson said he remembers that moment well. He had just gotten off the anchor desk and left work, he said, but was called back into the newsroom. Thompson said they remained on air through the night as the situation developed.
"It's just the beginning of the grieving process for the city of Charlotte," Thompson said, reflecting on the funeral and trial that followed the 2007 case.
Thompson said in the years since, it has stayed with him.
"The families and the communities where this happened, like the Timber Ridge Apartments, there's not a time I don't drive by that part of east Charlotte and I do not think of that night 17 years ago," Thompson said. "It changes people. It changes families, it changes the community, it changes the city."
WCNC Charlotte Weather team forecaster Larry Sprinkle also remembered being on the air on Oct. 5, 1993 when John Burnette and Andy Nobles were shot and killed in the line of duty.
Sprinkle said Burnette Avenue and Nobles Avenue, both near the intersection of West Boulevard and Billy Graham Parkway, were later named after those officers in their memory.
"It's such a tragedy, these officers go to work every day and you don't know whether you'll come home or not," Sprinkle said.
It has also been several years since a U.S. marshal was shot and killed in the line of duty.
Special Deputy U.S. Marshal Jacob Keltner was shot and killed in the line of duty on March 7, 2019, while a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force was attempting to serve an arrest warrant in Illinois.
While Shelton and Clark were the last officers shot and killed in the line of duty in Charlotte, the last Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer who was killed in the line of duty was Mia Goodwin. Goodwin died after she and three fellow officers were helping close a portion of Interstate 85 in December 2021. Goodwin was struck and killed by a truck driver who crashed into CMPD vehicles and another tractor-trailer.
If your loved one was impacted by this incident, WCNC Charlotte hopes to make this process less painful with our More Than A Number initiative. With your help, we want to share who your loved one was with our viewers in North Carolina and South Carolina. When you're ready, fill out the form below or send us photos, memories and other details about them to desk@wcnc.com.