Charlotte, NC – A new timeline released Friday shows how four law enforcement officers were killed over the course of 20 minutes on April 29. Search warrant in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Gunman Terry Hughes Jr., 39, killed Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas M. Weeks Jr., North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections (NCDAC) officers Sam Poloche and William “Alden” Elliott, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) officer Joshua Ayer. Four other officers were injured while on duty on Monday.
“This is the deadliest attack on law enforcement in Charlotte’s history. It’s one of the deadliest, single incident attacks on law enforcement across our country,” Daniel Radford, president of the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police lodge, told Fox News Digital. “We had to say goodbye to four heroes. If there’s anything we can learn from this incident, as we learn from so many other incidents, to prevent this from happening again and save the lives of officers, first responders, that would be the only lesson learned.”
Here is the latest development in the shooting, released by Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer B. Meriwether III as part of an investigation into the 23 officers who returned fire on Hughes on April 29:
April 29, 1 pm to 1:30 pm
Between 1 and 1:30 a.m. on that Monday, members of the U.S. Marshals Service Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force arrived at Hughes’ residence. Galway Drive in East Charlotte Issuing a warrant against a felon in possession of a firearm.
(L-R) Deputy US Marshal Thomas M. Weeks, Investigator William “Alden” Elliott, Police Officer Joshua Ayer and Investigator Samuel “Sam” Poloche were killed in a police shootout in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday, April 29, 2024. (AP/NCDAC/Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department/Sean Rayford via US Marshals Service/AP/Getty Images)
“The officers on this task force that came to this house that morning had probably done this 100 times or more,” Radford said of the situation officers thought they were going into that afternoon. “Similar … charges to arrest individuals. They’ve done this 100 to 200 times before, and it ended safely. You always keep in the back of your mind the dangers you’re going through. But you can’t always think about the danger because then you can’t think clearly if that’s all you’re focused on.”
“They’ve done this 100 to 200 times before, and it’s ended safely.”
When officers arrived at his home, Hughes was standing in the doorway of his home, which is located in a residential area near a public park.
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Charlotte residents were stunned by the deaths of four officers following a shootout on April 29, 2024. (Charlotte resident)
When Hughes saw officers approaching his home, a professional criminal — moved in, and task force members used a loudspeaker to announce their presence and tell Hughes to exit the residence, Meriwether wrote in a letter to CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings to explain the results of his investigation. Shortly after, Hughes opened fire with a “Radical Arms RF-15 rifle.”
North Carolina public records show Hughes has previously been charged in various counties with evading arrest, robbery, possession and manufacturing of marijuana, driving with an expired registration, driving under the influence and several other counts.
Hughes “then fired a shot from an upstairs window and later fired in turns from the rear and side windows.”
More than 100 rounds of bullets were fired during the deadly Charlotte shooting. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
Weeks was shot when he and Polochev hid behind a tree in Hughes’ backyard while Hughes fired bullets from his upper floor windows. Elliott and another task force member were shot “along the fence line on the west side of the house.”
1:33 PM
Meriwether said Ayer, the only CMPD officer on the NCDAC task force, was stationed in front of Hughes’ home and told CMPD dispatch that shots had been fired and officers were down. Ayer had access to a CMPD radio channel that was not monitored by task force members.
Charlotte police responded to a fatal shooting on Galway Drive on April 29, 2024. (Charlotte resident)
1:35 PM
Just two minutes after Ayer reported the shooting and the fallen officers, the first of hundreds of CMPD officers began arriving on the scene to help the fallen officers.
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“Officer Ayer and several other CMPD officers approached the victim’s home through the backyard of a home, and sought a safe route to reach the three fallen officers,” Meriwether wrote.
1:46 PM
About 10 minutes after calling for backup, Ayer and other officers went to the line of trees in Hughes’ backyard where Weeks was struck by gunfire. Ayer and Poloche “were wounded by additional bullets fired by the decedent as they took cover behind this tree,” Meriwether said.
The fatal shooting happened on April 29, 2024, at a home on Galway Drive in East Charlotte. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
“Three additional CMPD officers were also shot as they took cover in various locations behind the home,” the D.A. wrote.
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1:50 PM
About 20 minutes after Hughes began firing, he jumped out of a second-floor window toward the front of his home while still holding the AR-15 rifle.
“At 1:50:28 p.m., officers at the front of the residence reported over CMPD radio that the decedent had fallen down,” Meriwether said. “Although officers at the rear of the residence received this information, officers at the side of the residence did not. Officers stationed in the backyard then began to extricate TFO Poloche and Officer Ayer.”
The home where four law enforcement officers were killed is destroyed in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The four officers were killed in a shootout while trying to serve a search warrant the day before. (Audrey Conklin/Fox News Digital)
According to the D.A., officers located on the edge of the residence were not informed that the gunman was down, so they “attempted to get around the fence to render aid to the injured TFO.”
At 1:50:42 p.m., as officers were attempting to reach the wounded officer, another officer noticed movement in the upper-floor window from which Hughes was firing, and fired a shot into the window.
Radford, the local FOP president, said when officers from multiple agencies are involved in responding to a major attack, communication becomes an inadvertent issue.
“Communication is one of the most important things to do in a situation like this, because that’s how you get information about threats.”
“That way you can tell where you should go and where you shouldn’t go,” Radford said. “One of the things we always see at mass incidents like this: officers are responding, and we inadvertently end up blocking roads. You have 100 police cars parked on the side of the road, making it difficult for paramedics, the fire department and others like that to get through.”
Kelly Weeks (center), the widow of slain Deputy US Marshal Thomas Weeks Jr., looks out at attendees at her husband’s memorial service at Bojangles’ Coliseum on Monday, May 6, 2024, in Charlotte, NC. (Jeff Sinner/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
1:50 PM to 2 PM
“During the next ten minutes, officers at the rear of the residence provided cover fire at the rear window of the home while they were extracting (Polloche, Ayer and Weeks),” Meriwether wrote. “Officers at the side of the residence provided cover fire while they extracted the injured task force officer. At 1:59 p.m., CMPD officers used an armored utility vehicle to drive to the side fence line and extract (Elliott).”
2:39 PM
Hughes’ girlfriend called 911 and reported he was hiding in a closet in her home with their 17-year-old daughter.
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Police comfort each other in memory of fallen CMPD Officer Joshua Ayer at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Photo: Fox News Digital)
2:20 to 8:25 PM
Elliott, Poloche, Weeks, and Ayer were all pronounced dead at hospitals they were taken to over the next six hours.
Meriwether, after completing his investigation into the shooting, exonerated the officers who returned fire on Hughes, saying “There is no doubt that the 23 officers who returned fire during this lengthy encounter did so in defense of themselves and their fellow officers.”
“This incident represents the deadliest attack on law enforcement in our community’s history,” the DA concluded his letter to Jennings. “Had law enforcement officers not responded to an imminent deadly threat with deadly force, as is hard to imagine, the consequences could have been even more catastrophic. Accordingly, this review finds that the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers, which resulted in the death of Terry Hughes Jr., was justified under the law.”
Police comfort each other in memory of fallen CMPD Officer Joshua Ayer at First Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Friday, May 3, 2024. (Photo: Fox News Digital)
Jennings also responded to the D.A.’s findings, saying in an Aug. 1 statement that the four dead officers “displayed the ultimate in bravery” on April 29 while assisting in the deadliest attack on officers in Charlotte’s history.
“We will not forget the ultimate sacrifice he made to protect our community,” Jennings said. “I am extremely grateful to the dedicated members of our Homicide Unit, Crime Lab and Crime Scene Investigation, as well as the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, who have carefully and thoroughly reviewed nearly 1,100 videos and examined nearly 10,000 pieces of evidence.”
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Radford said several of the officers who responded to the shooting on April 29 were not on duty that day.
“I think the dedication of law enforcement is shown by the fact that many of the officers who responded that day were either on vacation, were home with their families, found out what was going on and put their uniforms on, got in their cars and went to work, knowing they didn’t have to do this, but they came because it was so important,” Redford said. “That’s how dedicated the men and women in this profession are to each other and to keeping our community safe.”
