Context to how the task force approached the home and
did they go in as a tactical unit or with
a tactical unit and is that something that will be
reviewed
with a outgun? Do they need
to go in with more based on this this person's
criminal insert?
Well first of all the
IT wasn't a fully automatic weapon that was that was
used
and the officers that the task force officers,
let me I'll just say this they are probably some
of the best trained
out there. The the US Marshals Service in Charlotte has
a tremendous training facility
and they have access to train
whenever they need to train and they do
train on their approach. So I I I don't
they are tactical in their approach.
So I don't know specifically how they approach that residence.
I do know that they were going in from the
front
and that's about all I can tell you is that's
when when the gunshots
rang out and started.
I'm sorry for the next question.
To also add to that,
we provide significant training to all of our task force
deputies and
task force officers. And in fact,
we have refined the training and developed it in
2011 based on another tragic year which 10 Deputy US
Marshals and task force officers were killed.
So every task force, also every deputy United States Marshall
gets what we call high risk fugitive apprehension training.
But like any agency, we are still will always take
a look.
We will review this incident to see what the lessons
learned what can be done.
We are always striving to find ways to reduce deputy
encounters and save lives.
And we will definitely take a look.
Sir. Sir, let's go right here.
Yeah. Jennings, Daniel Pierce from Queens City.
Who's got to ask with this investigation,
how many additional homes were hit by a gunfire?
How many additional homes did CMP and other law enforcement
officers occupy as you're
taking fire from this suspect?
And how do you determine how to keep those families
safe when they're actively engaging with
another suspect? Yeah, you know,
safety of the other surrounding areas and and residents,
particularly if you're dealing, say,
with an apartment complex, that's one of the first,
first and foremost things that we want to ensure is
that
everyone is safe, that they're all innocent parties are safe.
So we do have evacuation plans that we can get
people out.
I do know that we did occupy a few residents
while we were out on the scene.
I can't tell you what that look like right now.
Still, we're very early. And you know,
again, it's as far as I know,
I have not heard of any other residents that were
hit with gunfire during this exchange.
I'm not saying that that's the case,
but that's not been related to me.
And to answer your question on the Friendly fire,
there's no indication right now that there was any friendly.
No one has come to
based on Friendly fire. Chief Jennings,
Brett Jensen, WBT news. I'm curious in terms of you've
been in been in chief with other officers that have
died and also an officer and others have died.
How is this one different from maybe the others that
you had to deal with?
You know,
probably the most difficult. All of them are difficult.
In the last few days,
it's just been very tough
and
knowing that you have families that
are hurting like that.
We'll get through it
though. Mary Ramsey with The Charlotte Observer.
Chief, can you shed any more light on the timeline
of yesterday's events?
How soon after the task force arrived on scene that
they begin taking fire?
How long did the shooting last?
How long did it take for other law enforcement to
arrive on the scene?
Well, I can say that,
you know, because we did have a Sergeant on the
scene that was part of the task force,
that Sergeant was able to immediately get on the radio
and call for help.
Our division officers quickly responded.
As soon as they responded,
they were met with gunfire
and they also recognized the need to rescue
task force officers who were down by the gunfire.
And then as they were trying to do that rescue,
we had four officers shot as resolved.
Chief, you're sitting here with a lot of courage
and trying to be strong.
What are you doing to help cope with this cause
clearly,
in your 30 years, you've never seen anything like this,
not only for you, but your whole staff,
the other departments all the way up
to the
US Marshals. How are you
gonna plan? What are you doing the next
few moments to cope with this?
It's clearly this is really
I'm taking it for a little bit it is let
me just let me say to that.
You know just as the mayor talked about the support
she's heard from
across the country in Canada and I same for me,
I I appreciate so many text messages and emails that
I obviously I'm not able to get back to all
of them.
But phone calls that have come in that just the
the support with my peers in other major cities,
police chiefs in Canada, I'm just overwhelmed by the support
there.
What you see behind me,
the support, you know, for
all of these very important people to come in and
and stand beside me
and our department and our city.
And that just means so much.
And that's what keeps us going
and that's what
that's what it's all about.
That's what Charlotte is all about and that's who we
are.
Chief
Alex Giles, I'm
sorry, speak for the Marshall Service as well.
Unfortunately, we've been through some of these critical incidents before,
some of these tragedies. So that says Marshall Service has
a critical incident response to you.
We call, Sir, they have been deployed because you're right,
It is while we're worrying about others,
while we are trying to take care of the community,
the community's trying to take care of us.
Sometimes we don't take care of ourselves.
And so the Wellness of all of our staff is
very critical.
And so we must now invest.
The healing is going to be long.
It's going to be tough.
But I think if we stay together,
we can get through this and heal and come stronger
as a profession,
as a community. So I would inform any officer,
local, state or federal, that if you need assistance,
it's OK not to be OK to make sure that
you ask.
But I would think we should just keep repeating that
and repeating that
there's always the goal of any leader of the agency
never to have this discussion,
but to prepare for it.
And equally important is to prepare that our people can
have a safe,
healthy career and so that they can retire in good
shape both emotionally and physically.
So thank you for that question.
Sometimes it goes unnoticed, but I appreciate that it did
not.
And we are totally committed to making sure we take
care of our people.
Chief Officer Irish reputation within the department.
Anything more he can tell us today about what he
was going for,
what kind of officer he was,
what kind of community guy he was?
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that.
You know, I I mentioned Officer Iyer was just a
few weeks ago.
I'm shaking his hand congratulating him for being officer the
month in in our command city center.
And that's because of his work in the community,
because of his work to getting guns off the street
and because of how he responds to his cases and
how he treats people.
And
you know, he's going to be sorely missed in this
law enforcement community.
And he was one of the ones that you the
kind of officer you want on your team.
And as he demonstrated yesterday,
he's the kind of officer he want to respond when
you need help.
He was rushing in to help
a task force officer when he was taken on by
gunfire.
And then he finds himself from being
rescuer to needing rescue himself.
And so
I I, I want to say everyone,
all of these individual officers that were out there,
all eight that were shot and injured
and all the the hundreds that responded,
they're heroes.
They're heroes because they face dangers that most humans should
not have to face
and they accept that danger.
And not a single one of them backed away from
that challenge yesterday.
So I'm very proud of the men and women in
blue from every agency that came out to assist yesterday.
Director Davis in terms of
in terms of Marshall Lewis,
what more can you tell about because he's also from
the area and he helped out that the Wells Fargo
golf tournament.
I think he was recently married not too long ago.
So what can you tell us about him?
So I had the opportunity to talk to deputies that
know him
and I look forward to talking to the family later
today
and this morning. The court family,
the Western District of North Carolina actually closed shut down
operations today and they came together to honor Deputy Lease.
So the entire court family and as we described by
one of the judges,
the news Judge Connelly, that no matter what task he
gave him,
he always had a smile
that everyone talked to about.
He's the person that you count on would volunteer,
would be there through thick and thin and was reliable
and dependent.
So,
you know, is this a deputy's deputy?
And so he's going to be sorely missed not only
by the district but by the agency and obviously for
law enforcement,
A tremendous loss. Chief Jeffrey Donald with The Associated Press.
The Was there a pause between the suspect being killed
in that second wave of gunfire,
where there might have been an opportunity where somebody might
have been trying to ambush
the officers as they may have been coming in trying
to help out or think the situation was over?
Yeah, I mean that what you're talking about on that
pause is very difficult to kind of sort through right
now as we go through the body worn camera footage
and all that
to see when that when the suppression of gunfire was
taking place,
was it after the individual was down?
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 and where he
was when he was down could have possibly been firing
additional rounds on the ground.
We just don't know right now.
But we're we're going to get through all of that
and make a determination on whether there's another individual that
we need to be concerned with that we're shooting
during that. What kind of gun did the perpetrator use?
He it was an AR15
and then there was a 40 caliber handgun that was
that was there as well and also additional magazines for
both of them additional ammunition for both
of weapons that were there.
So Chief Panning gets WSOC
condolences from the Channel 9 family.
The AR15 can you talk about the threat that poses
to officers in a situation like that where they wearing
body armor and cannot stand up to that type of
gunfire. In that situation the the the the
traditional body armor for police officers does not withstand a
rifle round.
So the AR15 is is able to
suppressed rapid gunfire and holds the magazines that obviously holds
a great deal of ammunition
and this individual is able to
unload several rounds towards our officers within a matter of
seconds.
And being on high ground
also gives the advantage. Even though officers were trying to
take cover
they were at a disadvantage because the suspect was up
at a higher level
and they were trying to return fire
at an elevated from an from a lower position to
an elevated position.
Chief that sounds absolutely terrifying for for any officer.
I'm I'm wondering if you could give more details about
how
they approach and how much time pass from from them
arriving on scenes for gunfire.
I I don't have a timeline to give you right
now.
We're going to, we'll be putting together a timeline on
exactly pinpointing when they arrived,
when the first shots were relayed over the radio that
they needed assistance.
But a lot of that information I just don't have
for you right now to tell you how they approached
and then how quickly.
I do know that they were immediately met with gunfire
and there's indication that the
the suspects saw them coming to the house prior to
them getting to the front door.
And I'd just like to ask about about those firearms.
I mean this is something
everyone up here has talked about previously,
but any idea of how he procured those,
where they came from? Obviously if you were telling me
he was doing it legally
and I'd like to open up this question larger so
that so that everyone's outstanding,
yeah, I'd be willing to turn it over.
But I will say that we are looking at the
how he acquired the the gun we will be or
all of the guns.
We are making progress on that and we'll be able
to determine
that based on the purchase of the firearms
and who purchased them and how he acquired them from
that individual.
So we do have some very good resources out there
that we are moving quickly to try to figure out
which where that gun was purchased and and who purchased
it. Chief are you and for director Davis is Will
Ashley Mahay with Axiom Charlotte.
What is the best way for the community to support
your service members right now?
And there is of course these,
the foundation and there's a way for people to donate
there.
But what's what's the best way to do this?
Yeah, I I will tell you our CMP Police Foundation
has been tremendous
and have already there were some of the first people
to reach out and offer the support.
I do know they set up a
fund for all four officers and their families
that's through their website that they're going to actually set
that money aside specifically for the four fallen officers.
And there are going to be other ways I'm sure
to support.
But you know prayers are always something that
we we need as well to help us heal and
get through it.
But there's going to be plenty of opportunities for supporting
of all the families and the CMP Police Foundation has
already started. Now
I want to want to introduce the the Marshall for
the question did the growth of Carolina and asked him
to come up and and answer that question.
But I do want to go back to the previous
question and as mentioned when I talked to the Attorney
General also received
contact from all of our federal law enforcement,
our counterparts and one would be the alcohol,
tobacco farm and ATF directors,
Steve Dalbeck. And so as as always,
we work very closely right at the request of the
assistance of any agency we're dealing with firearms and tracking
and purchase.
So I look forward to that assistant but matter to
the Marshall from the Western District.
Terry Bergen, US Marshall, Western District,
Deputy Weeks. It's one of my team members.
I've worked with deputy beats over the past 20 years
in various assignments.
I also need to owe three officers.
I'd like to leave you with this fault.
If you could speak to each one of those fallen
officers today
and ask them the question why they'd
say why, what
they'd say? Why did you take the other?
Why did you become law enforcement officers?
Their response? Why not?
Second question. Would you do this again,
knowing your fate yesterday? Would you do it again?
It would be a boisterous yes.
They would not change a thing.
The only thing they might change is saying
let me leave, let me leave you and get a
tussle over who was going in first.
That's how brave they were yesterday.
That's how brave they were the day they took the
oath box.
Thank you,
Chief Jennings. Given this suspect's criminal history,
was he someone that was known to officers?
Any familiarity with CMPD?
Not that I'm aware of.
Each division has individuals that they obviously encounter quite a
bit and they know of.
I I do know he had an extensive criminal history.
I don't know the familiarity that they had with the
division or how long he had actually lived at that
residence or you know,
how he came about being there.
So I don't have that answer for you,
Chief. Five years today since the shooting at UC Charlotte,
how did these major incidents impact local law enforcement,
whether it seemed to be one of our neighboring
departments? Yeah, you know, I,
I, I truly believe incidents like this makes us stronger.
I think it also makes more people
that see this and say I want to be a
part of that.
They see what we do for the community.
They see that we are
here to save lives. They see that we're here to
ensure that each of you are safe in this community.
And I can't think of a more honorable or noble
profession,
you know, other than our military services.
But you know, again, if people feel like they want
to be a part of something special in law enforcement,
I will always believe is a part of something special.
And you don't get the satisfaction in any other profession
like you do in the wrong
Governor Cooper in terms of
in your 7 1/2 years,
you've had to go to a lot of these across
the state with law and officers.
Do you have a general message that you want to
say the state about the officers and just these students
that you've always had to do in the last 7
1/2 years?
Well, we need to recognize the dangers that they face,
and we need more resources for better pay
and better benefits and better training for our law enforcement
officers so that more of them would be willing to
come into the procession.
And as I said yesterday when I was at the
hospital,
I asked people when you see a law enforcement officer
to to thank them, to
thank them for their work.
Will there be any kind of public memorial plan for
the fallen officers and any details yet on when individual
funeral regions may be announced
there? There will be. We're working on that now.
That'll all be announced. We are working with the families
and see exactly how we want to proceed with memorial
services.
And as you know, next month,
early next month is Police week
and we are rushing to ensure that these officers are
recognized during
our memorial services for police week
coming up in May. Can you
please confirm the names one more time so we have
them spelled correctly?
So it's North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections Samuel Pelosi.
His last name is spelled
POLOCHEN, Carolina Department of Adult Correction William
Alden
Alden Elliott,
Officer Joshua Iyer. Last name is spelled
EYER
and Deputy United States Marshall Thomas.
Weeks.
WEEKS.
The wounded officers wounded Officer Christopher Tolly
TOLLEY,
Officer Michael Giglio
Giglio,
Officer Jack Flowers
and Officer Justin Campbell who is the one who broke
his
broke his foot
shape are all expected, are all expected to make a
full recovery.
All, all of those officers are expected to make a
full recovery.
We actually expect them to be released either
if they haven't already been released hopefully today or the
malls.
Do you hear that you can see Charlotte
now obviously this is a lot of resources and so
forth future officers is this going to impact as we're
looking at a big event coming at the end of
the week, a three day music
festival. Is this going to impact
resources officers?
No. We when we look at the events coming up,
particularly this this coming weekend,
we do have adequate staffing.
You know we are again we've we've placed several offices
on administrative leave at this point.
However we do, we are fortunate enough that it be
a large agency that we can
make sure we have a contingency ready to take on
any event that we have here in Charlotte.
And Chief, there's no confirmation yet or I guess I
guarantee that the two females were also involved in the
shooting.
They're still investigating that park,
right. Just to clarify, we we,
we're going to keep all of that open as related
to anybody,
any opportunity, any,
any ideas or thoughts of another shooter or not another
shooter.
The evidence is going to play out on that and
we just have to sort through that again.
There's so much, so much to go through the house
that we're going to be there for quite a while.
But as soon as we're able to figure out if
there was another shooter or not,
we will certainly do know that
for computer Spectrum is 1.
Yes. First of all, I've interviewed with you a lot
and
I'm so sorry for your loss in the entire apartment.
Second of all, there's a lot of information that's going
back and forth.
And we just want to clarify,
the armored vehicle that was there,
did it crash into one of the homes during this?
Was that something That
is totally not that I'm aware?
I I haven't seen that.
I watched several footage of of
of video footage yesterday. If it did,
I'm not aware of it.
I know it did. It did go over a fence
to go and rescue officers,
but
I'm not sure if it crashed in anything.
Chief, we saw against WSOC,
we saw a man on crutches entering headquarters this morning.
Is that one of the injured officers already going back
to the headquarters this morning?
Can I tell Director Schumer it's our State Bureau of
Investigations director,
Bob Schumer, former CMPD deputy chief
and interim chief. He wasn't shot.
He just was
playing basketball.
He's recovering from surgery. He's he's well,
you see, if I wasn't good to be back on
the question about the
armored vehicle, and you may or may not be able
to answer that,
was that vehicle, is that part of the plan that
you're going in for,
especially someone that has firearms?
Was that vehicle already on site or was that a
SWAT that was calling you later?
Yeah, that that was a SWAT contingency.
That armored vehicle is a rescue vehicle
and it was absolutely perfect for the situation.
When you have officers down taking on gunfire,
you take that armored vehicle to protect the rescue individuals
if if that would have been on scene
from the get go, but you normally don't deploy that
for arrest mark. So that's a SWAT deployment and then
SWAT was deployed.
That was a resource security.
Couple more questions put more details.
How often under what circumstances do local police usually work
with marshals?
Let me talk about a little a little bit of
this very
young man. We we work with all of our federal
partners and state partners all the time,
even even when we were not a part of the
Marshals task force.
If they need assistance in serving a warrant we'll go
by and stand in perimeter we'll we'll stand by them
to secure their safety. So the relationship has always been
strong.
It's never been to where it's it's simply we leave
them or or they leave us without resources but when
when the call is made on either side the it's
answered on either side. So
we have a again like I said we have assigned
a Sergeant
to that task force earlier this year
and that Sergeant was basically looking to increase the staffing
to assist with the Marshall services.
We continue to show good signs of
filling our vacancies and and
staffing for the department. So
you know it's not unusual for any task force.
We're we're members of several task forces on the federal
side within the Charlotte area.
So it's not unusual for assistance within
the Police Department. So she's confirming
that officer Blowers has been discharged.
Officer blowers I believe yes,
he has been discharged. We're putting out a press release
shortly. OK, one more question,
please.
Yes, we're going to be a photograph
of Deputy Leaks and also confirming,
did you go back to Thomas Michael
does her
first name the press release?
I was biased because that out will be out,
but should be pressed out right now including photos.
And then his name is Thomas Mike.
Or
have you got five weeks?
They. Oh, no one is Tommy.
But I would let the Marshall ask me.
I know I'm Will, but
I know his name is Tommy Weeks.
And
well, TW, it's very nice ponder too.
We'll get that out to you soon.
Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you all for being here.
Thank you for helping us memorialize and and honoring all
these officers involved
publication.