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8 officers shot, 4 fatally, while serving warrant in Charlotte

A Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officer, right, escorts two young girls trying to get home after school near the scene of a shootout on the 5000 block of Galway Drive in east Charlotte, N.C., on Monday. (Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/Charlotte Observer)
A Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department officer, right, escorts two young girls trying to get home after school near the scene of a shootout on the 5000 block of Galway Drive in east Charlotte, N.C., on Monday. (Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez/Charlotte Observer)
By Sopan Deb, Livia Albeck-Ripka and Remy Tumin New York Times

Eight law officers were shot on Monday, four fatally, as a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force tried to serve a warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina, the police said, in one of the deadliest days for law enforcement in recent years.

The suspect they were seeking was also killed.

Around 1:30 p.m., members of the task force went to the 5000 block of Galway Drive to serve a warrant on a person for being a felon in possession of a firearm, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said at a news conference Monday evening.

When they approached the person, the shooter fired at them. The officers returned fire and struck the person, who was later pronounced dead in the front yard of the residence. Police did not release the name of the shooter or any of the law enforcement officers.

As police approached the shooter, Jennings told reporters, the officers were met with more gunfire from inside the home and that two more people were inside. They were both taken to the station as “persons of interest.” Jennings identified one of them as a 17-year-old.

“Today is an absolute tragic day for the city of Charlotte and for the profession of law enforcement,” Jennings said. “Today, we lost some heroes that are out simply trying to keep our community safe.”

In all, four members of the task force were shot, three of whom died. The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that one of its deputy marshals was among those killed. Two of those killed were officers with the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, Gov. Roy Cooper said on social media. The task force is made up of officers from multiple agencies.

Four members of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were also shot, one of whom died from his injuries on Monday night, the police said on social media. The officer, Joshua Eyer, who had been with the department for six years, was helping other officers arrest the suspect when he was shot, the police said.

Authorities shut down the city’s Shannon Park neighborhood, east of downtown, on Monday afternoon in order to more easily move victims to hospitals, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department wrote on social media.