Let's listen in here. Uh Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Kevin Petris. I'm a lieutenant with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department here in Charlotte, North Carolina. I appreciate your patience this afternoon as we uh have worked through uh the situation that we've been dealing with today. Uh There's no doubt that Charlotte, our Charlotte community has experienced a tragedy today and it's one that as a law enforcement community, we always know it's possible, but we never expect it never gets easier. We're gonna do our best to answer your questions today to provide details, to be transparent about the events of this afternoon. But I do employ you to understand that we're dealing with a tragic loss of life today and uh that loss of life is very fresh. There's details that we do not know. There's questions that we frankly just aren't gonna be able to answer. Um We will take your questions. Uh but first, the chief of police for the Charlotte Meckel Police Department, Johnny Jennings is gonna come and give you some information and share his thoughts. I'll spell that for you. Johnny is Johnny, last name is Jennings Jennings after Chief Jennings uh the mayor of the city of Charlotte. Vi Lyles is gonna come and share her thoughts. Viv I Lyles Ly Les Chief. Thank you, Lieutenant. Today is an absolute tragic day for the city of Charlotte and for the profession of law enforcement. Today, we lost some heroes that are out to just simply trying to keep our community safe. I'm gonna try to go through a series of events of how this all occurred and played out and then tell you a little bit more about uh about the injuries and the things that we had to endure today as a as a profession and as a city. So about 130 pm this afternoon, the US Marshals fugitive task force went to the 5000 block of Galway Avenue, an attempt to serve a warrant on an individual for possession of firearm by a convicted felon. When they approached that individual, they were met with gunfire, officers returned gunfire and struck the victim who was later pronounced deceased in the front yard of the residence. As officers approached that individual, they were, they then received additional gunfire from inside of the residence. So after a long standoff, we were able to clear this residence and confirmed that there were two additional people inside. They were both brought to the police station as persons of interest and we're trying to determine now what exactly occurred inside of the residence. Tragically, there were three members of the US Marshals task force who are pronounced deceased. And there were, there were four C MP D officers who were shot, one being in critical condition who is now in the hospital fighting for his life. A total of eight law enforcement officers were shot by this, by the suspects in this house. So we are very early in the investigation. C MP D will lead this investigation. Uh We still have a lot to uncover a lot of questions that are not answered right now. So please respect the fact that I won't be able to answer some of the questions that you're gonna have. Uh But at the same time, uh we are going to diligently work on this to ensure that, that we bring a respect to these officers and these law enforcement officials that lost their lives today. And this is a good example of what we try to tell people every single day that when we put on this uniform that we don't have any guarantees that we'll return home. But yet we have a lot of great men and women across this entire country that do it every single day to make sure that you're safe in your communities. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mayor V LA. If you want to say a few words, I'm just gonna put this in my, you never know what your day is going to be like. You can't plan things like this to be in this space. At this time, we've lost three people. They lost their lives after they gave us the opportunity to be in a safe place and they lost their lives. These are people that care deeply about what they've done for a profession. And now today we have to say to them how much we are grateful for what they have done. We won't know very much about what happened until their investigation is done. But I know this about our community, our community stands up for people, they stand up for all of the people that work for us that make it possible. All of our officers, if you had a little bit of problem driving around today, I don't think anybody was too worried about that because we know that there is a reason for this and there is a reason that everything happens and sometimes we don't understand it. But at this point, I know that this community will seek understanding. I know that our police department will seek understanding. I wanna say this. Um We're very, very much grateful today. I heard from the White House about the loss of our officers and the situation that we were having to adjust to. I've heard from Congresswoman Adams as well as Congresswoman Congressman Jeff Jackson on the way over here, the Speaker of the House, Tim Moore and the president of our State Senate. They all talked about what can they do to help us now? We may not know what help we need right now today. But we do know that when people reach out to say this is something that is important that has happened and they want to be a part of whatever we do because there will be a time that we will commemorate these people that lost their lives. You think about it, your father, your husband, your friend, your neighbor, all of them were some one person like that. And today they're not going home. You know, three people lost their lives today. And the most that I can ask of our community is that we honor and respect them for all the work that they've done all the work that we will do to make it possible for our city to be safer. Every one of us wants to be in a situation where you get up this morning and get to come back home and someone didn't today, keep your prayers, keep your faith. Make sure that these officers who have families have people to reach out and held them up because they will need this. And we are a city that will make it possible for them to be this way to be able to live and know that we honor and respect the laws that they have. Thank you very much for this time. Thank you mayor. I wanna take just a moment just to clarify. Um There was a total of four C MP D officers, I was struck by gunfire today and four task force officers. So that's a total of eight law enforcement officers who were, who were struck by gunfire today. Um I want to take a minute to recognize the the people standing behind us here today, the first responder community, the government organizations that, that stand behind me. This is a community within the community and it's incredible the bond that we have and it's demonstrated in no other way like it is in moments of crisis and in moments of tragedy like the one that occurred today. So to recognize the people that are with me today, we have the Shaw Fire Department, Medic uh Department of Homeland Security Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, us, marshals District Attorney's office, North Carolina Highway Patrol. And I sure hope I didn't leave anybody off the list on their behalf. I want to thank you for being here and um on behalf of all the men and women that they represent, who answer the call, especially when tragedy strikes. I wanna, I wanna thank them. Um, any questions that you have Chief Chief Jennings and uh mayor liers are available for a convicted felon with a knowing that they're going into a situation where, well, it certainly changes the response. The question is, how does it change the response when you're going into a residence where someone has a history of having a weapon? And let me just be clear. The US Marshal service, uh their fugitive task force is comprised of surrounding agency. So there are multiple agencies that are involved uh with the fugitive task force with the Marshal service. Uh The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department is a member of the US Marshals uh task force as well. Um So any time you are dealing with someone who is a convicted felon and who has been caught previously with the firearm, it does raise concerns and raise awareness when you are responding. So, um when they do that, the part of the reason the task force is such an imperative part of what we do every single day is because they have extensive training and they train together to be able to deal with these kind of situations. It's always gonna be uh something that's on the forefront of their uh thought process when you're going after Charlotte's most dangerous people. Uh And unfortunately, today was something tragic that we never wanna see. I never wanna stand in front of you today uh to talk about an incident such as something this tragic. It's, it's really heartbreaking. Yes, one dead. You know, I, I, I'm not ready to tell you all of the agencies. What I can confirm is that four C MP D officers were shot. Uh One C MP D officer is in very critical condition at this point. Uh We do have to make sure that uh family members and all of them are notified. So I'm not gonna release which agencies they were with, with the task force. So the question is the number of shooters we are right now, we believe there are two shooters involved. Uh Again, we have two people of interest at the police station that are being questioned right now. Uh And we have confirmed that the individual that was, uh, set up that we were serving the warrant on, uh, was the individual who fired the initial shots and was deceased in the front yard uh at the end of all of this. So the other officers, besides the officer that's in critical condition, the other officers are stable. The degree of injuries are varying anywhere from a graze wound to a wound that requires a little bit more attention, but they are stable and expected to be ok. Yes, I can confirm that we do have, we do have an, a sergeant who was assigned to the task force who was on the scene that officer immediately called for help. The three officers or the four officers that were shot are officers who were responding to the scene. I'll get to you. Yes, sir. Yes, that, that, that's still early to tell. Uh Right now we're still doing the investigation in the house. I can't tell you it was a high powered rifle that was involved on the suspect then. Yes, sir. Thank you. Hurry up the office service. Thank you for that question. So the bravery of our officers that responded to the scene knowing that they're going into gunfire is, is what I've been saying for many years is in the face of danger. Our people step up and this profession steps up and that's what we should be defined as doing because we, they knew what they were going into and still held their own and attempt to apprehend the suspect. They knew that they had officers that needed help that needed to be extracted from that location. Yet they went in some getting shot themselves as a result. So, uh the bravery, the heroism, uh everything that goes down with that defines who, what our profession is. Our people demonstrated that today and I couldn't be more proud of the response. I couldn't be more proud of the partnerships that we have at every single level of law enfor enforcement, every single level of public safety. I can't say enough about the phone calls, the text messages, uh the support and as you heard, Lieutenant Petris say, or the mayor say that a lot of it is what do you need? How can we help? And it just uh in times like this, that's exactly what we need in these situations. So the question is how many other agencies are with the fugitive task force just responded. Um So the fugitive task force, I don't have the exact numbers uh with Charlotte has one member uh on the fug fugitive task force as a sergeant, but mainly the surrounding agencies within our, uh, within our surrounding, uh, cities and towns are members of that and we can get you those numbers exactly what, who they, who was involved responding to this, whether it was. Yeah. So, uh, so the officers who responded to help out, um, all the federal agencies were on the scene with me and, uh, uh, uh, state agencies of Mecklenburg County Sheriff's office was there as well. Um We had agencies uh, from Pineville, uh to different different towns within our, our county. Uh They sent officers in to answer our calls for service because we were, we obviously, you can imagine the manpower needs that it was to secure that scene and to do the transports. So they were very helpful to ensure that we did not let our citizens down in responding to those calls for service and they were very helpful in that. So why no Children in the house? It was one juvenile that we did get out of the house though. Yes, not right now. The type of ammunition that's still part of the investigation. Uh All of that will have to be, uh, be looked at as, as far as we, when we get into the house also recover any uh projectiles that might have been as taken out as treatment to the officers. So there's a, there's a lot that we still have to uncover. We're not. So the question is whether this was an appropriate time to serve a warrant. Uh I will, I will tell you, hold on, I will say when you're talking about a felon who has propensity to carry a firearm, there is no great time to do it. Whether it's in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day, the interest in the fugitive task force was to ensure that this person was brought to justice and taken off the streets. And unfortunately, he decided that he was going to respond to that by gunfire at our officers. Yes, ma'am. I I do not write it now but uh the history of this residence, the history of the individual, all of that will be released very soon. We're gonna try to get that information out. We do have a lot of family notifications that we have to make in order to provide more information to each and every one of you uh about this individual. So, yeah, so the question is, is right now is the shelter in place open? Is the area ok? To go back to normal duties? Yes, we're going to be at the residence processing the crime scene probably for several hours. But as far as the lockdowns and closure of roads and all of that, we have opened that back up, the house has been secured by our officers have been cleared and now comes the tedious task of ensuring that we collect the evidence and process the scene. Yes. Yes. So the question is about the two other individuals who were, who came out of the house later. We can't, I can't confirm right now whether which one or if either are the suspects in the additional shots that were fired. What I can tell you is that we had the house secured and it was, the perimeter was secure and we continued to take gunfire from inside the residence. And after we cleared the residence, there were only two individuals that came out, uh, 117 year old juvenile and then another female who was taken out as well. So one suspect is deceased. Yes, this is the day I cannot. I've been, I've been with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department for 32 years. Uh, I can't remember an incident where three law enforcement officers uh were and, and, and also three that were killed in the same incident as well as one in critical condition and an additional that were shot and injured. So, um, uh, to me, it's, it's the most tragic one that I've been involved in. I, I don't know, historically, I, I can't imagine that there's one that's, that's any worse than what we're seeing today. Chief. What are the questions that your investigators will be working to answer in the coming days, weeks, months? Well, a lot of the questions that need to be answered. We don't even know what those questions are right now. We have to get a full understanding of why this occurred. And also to uphold the integrity of the investigation. We want to make sure that we check all the boxes that we need to so that we can get a full, a full prosecution in this case. If and when it comes down to that, we know answers, but we still have many that we have to uh clear up and, and many that we have to continue to work on until we can really lock down what happened, who was involved, uh and, and move on from there. So I did, I, I spoke with the governor uh, earlier today. He basically asked me, what do I need? He's here to support, uh certainly appreciative of, of the phone call with him. Uh And, um, you know, unfortunately, I know he would be here if he could right now. He's on his way to come and speak with us. But, um I did speak with him this afternoon. Our prayers are for the families and the community. Um I am a uh East Charlotte ra since 1975. I appreciate what the police officers do in our community. Speaking on behalf of the East Charlotte community, I'm prayerful that there will be an increase of the police presence in our area in East Charlotte. Yeah, thank you for that. Um At this point, I'm, I'm concerned mainly with taking care of the officers taking care of their families. Uh and all of that comes into play later on, how do we respond to this community? But I wanna make sure the community knows that we're going to continue to keep them safe. Uh We got a lot of brave men and women out there that are going to continue working in that uh neighborhood and they're going to continue to uh uh work in the best interest of our community and our citizens. So, yes, I'll take three more questions. Yeah. OK. All of the officers from C MP D that were injured were responding to the scene. The one, the one sergeant that we have assigned to the task force was not injured. Thank you to your office work. I, I don't know how many total officers were there serving the warrant. So I don't have that, that's, that's from the US Marshals uh task force that they, they had their contingency of their uh task force out there doing this warrant service. Yes. Speaking my condolences for you and the police force. I definitely feel like this is a bad, tragic situation that should never take place um in regards to law enforcement and just citizens throughout this, throughout the state. Um What can you say could be a beneficial step that could be taken between relations between police enforcement and whether it could be just citizens felons or whatever the case may be, what could be done to bridge the gap. So a level of a situation will never take place. Well, I I'll, I'll be honest with you, whatever gap there is, this level should never get to this place, right? I mean, you can have all the hate in your heart that you possibly can have that should never result in taking a life and much less taking multiple lives. So the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department and every agency you see behind me has a priority to in to continue to make sure that we have the, the best community relationships that we possibly can. But a lot of that also means that we have to be met halfway on certain things. So, um we're gonna continue to do that and like I said, we're gonna continue to keep your community safe. So, thank you. That's all I'll ask answer for now. So thank you. All right. Thank you all for being here. Um We, we do need your, your support and we do need your prayers both for our officers and the other officers involved and for and for their families and, and for those impacted in our community in other different ways. So, uh stay tuned to CNPP public affairs, our social media channels and press releases that we're going to be putting out, we'll keep you up to date on all the information that we have as we get it. Thank you.
