Police Shooting in Charlotte Kills 4 Officers: What to Know

A shootout that broke out on Monday when a team of law enforcement personnel tried to serve warrants to a suspect in Charlotte, N.C., left four officers dead and another four injured.

The shootout, in which the suspect was also killed, was one of the deadliest for American law enforcement in recent years.

Here’s what to know.

What happened in Charlotte?

A group of officers, who were from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the U.S. Marshalls Fugitive Task Force, went to serve warrants to a suspect around 1:30 p.m., the police said in a statement. The suspect, later identified as Terry Clark Hughes Jr., 39, was wanted for being a felon possessing a firearm and for eluding arrest.

As they approached the house, Mr. Hughes opened fire, striking several officers, the police said. When he stepped out of the house, holding a gun, officers judged that he posed an “imminent deadly threat” and shot him, the police said. Mr. Hughes was later pronounced dead in the front yard.

The officers were met with more gunfire from inside the house, the police said. After a long standoff and negotiations, the two women came out of the house and were taken to a police station to be interviewed.

There were two shooters, including Mr. Hughes, and one of the weapons they used was a high-powered rifle, Johnny Jennings, the chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, said at a news conference.

Eight officers were wounded during the shootout and taken to hospitals. Three were pronounced dead on arrival, and another died from his injuries on Monday night.

The officers were from multiple agencies.

Four members of the U.S. Marshalls Fugitive Task Force were shot, and three of them died, the police said.

The task force was made up of officers from multiple agencies. Those killed included two veteran officers of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott.

The U.S. Marshals Service confirmed that one of its deputy marshals was among those killed. It did not identify the marshal.

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 who died, Joshua Eyer, had been helping other officers arrest the suspect when he was shot, the police said.

How often do shootings like this happen?

This was one of the deadliest recent attacks on law enforcement in the United States.

In July 2016, four police officers and one transit officer were killed in downtown Dallas after an armed sniper opened fire during a demonstration against fatal shootings by the police. The police killed the gunman with an explosive sent by a remote-controlled robot.

That same month, a gunman fatally shot three officers and injured three others in Baton Rouge, La. The gunman was killed during a shootout.

Chief Jennings described Monday’s shooting as the most tragic of his more than three decades with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.