Table Of Content
"We remember them, we honor their service, we send our deepest condolences to their families and friends, and we pray for healing for all affected by this tragic incident." Overall, 67% of stolen vehicles in Charlotte last year were Kias and Hyundais. CMPD says it recovered more than half of stolen vehicles last year and made more than 1,200 arrests, which was a 98% increase from 2022. CMPD says that is mainly driven by a 120% spike in stolen cars. CMPD reported over 8,000 stolen vehicles in 2023, of which 5,432 were Kias and Hyundais.
President Biden, Gov. Cooper & NC politicians offer condolences
Jennings said he believes that’s partly because schools were open and students had more of a chance to report them to counselors. Jennings said, "When you look at, not just the acts that juveniles are committing in a violent way, but it's also the ages of how much younger and younger that we're seeing some of these violent offenders and juveniles become."
Year Over Year Crime In Charlotte (per 100,000 people)
"This should be extremely alarming that children are allowed to wreak havoc of this magnitude in the city with minimal consequences," CMPD said. "Each homicide in Charlotte is a homicide too many," CMPD said in a statement. "Our clearance rate is so high because our detectives don't forget our victims and never stop working to find answers and seek justice." Another resident, Mary Sutter, said she had trouble returning home from her job at a nearby high school because the neighborhood was so packed with police cars. “We’re all just shocked that this has happened here,” she said. President Joe Biden shared his condolences to those affected by the shooting.
Car thefts drive surge in overall crime
CMPD posted on X that Operation Heartbeat led to a 36% decrease in violent crime and a 43% drop in robberies in areas surrounding Spectrum Center, the Charlotte Transit Center and adjacent parking areas. Overall, the Central Division, which covers South End and Uptown, reported a 3% drop in overall violent crime. As the police approached the shooter, Chief Jennings told reporters, the officers were met with more gunfire from inside the home. After a long standoff, two women in the home were taken to a police station to be interviewed, the police later said in a statement. Both Kia and Hyundai remain the main target of auto thefts for juvenile suspects.
CMPD releases first quarter crime statistics for 2022
Gadi Adelman with Back The Blue NC said there is still something people can do if they cannot afford a donation. Some neighbors had police snipers set up in their homes while others had injured officers pulled to safety through their living rooms. The home was heavily damaged by a SWAT team, which rammed the house with an armored vehicle. Four officers were killed Monday while trying to serve a warrant at an east Charlotte home. After Charlotte saw two years of increases in violent crime, 2021 was something of a relief. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say violent crime dropped by 7% last year compared to 2020.
Homicide rates in NC cities remained elevated in 2021 - North State Journal
Homicide rates in NC cities remained elevated in 2021.
Posted: Thu, 13 Jan 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Officers Are Shot, 4 Fatally, While Serving Warrant in Charlotte
Tolley, Giglio and Blowers were shot, and Campbell's foot was broken during the shooting. The department continues to address a rise in gun violence. Another initiative CMPD and city leaders have been focused on is the Alternatives to Violence Program and where they assign violence interrupters to certain neighborhoods, a program that has shown progress. There have been 85 homicides through Sept. 30, representing a 26.9% increase from the 67 recorded during the same time period last year, according to the CMPD.
Safest Places to Live in and Around
The data shows that overall crime was up 14%, while property crime jumped 17% from 2022. That rise was driven by an "extremely alarming" rise in the number of crimes committed by teenagers, as well as an increase in shootings citywide. The violent episode on Monday was one of the deadliest attacks on law enforcement in recent years. In July 2016, five officers were killed in Texas after an armed sniper opened fire in downtown Dallas during a demonstration against fatal police shootings.
Cooper posted on social media that he had offered state resources to assist local law enforcement in any way they may need. Todd Ishee, NC Secretary of Adult Correction, identified the two officers killed as Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott, both 14-year NC Department of Adult Correction veterans. Marshals Service confirmed that one of its officers had been killed. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper clarified that the other two killed were officers with the State Department of Adult Correction who were working with the task force. The armed suspect who was killed by officers was identified late Monday night as Terry Clark Hughes Jr, 39. The man shooting at the officers left the home and was killed in the front yard of the home in the eastern Charlotte neighborhood.
1st Quarter Public Safety Report
He said two women were inside and officers took them to the police station as "persons of interest." "When they approached that individual, they were met with gunfire," Jennings said Monday. "Officers returned gunfire and struck the victim, who was later pronounced deceased in the front yard of the residence." Monday, officers were attempting to serve a warrant to 39-year-old Terry Clark Hughes, Jr., for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon at a home near the 5000 block of Galway Drive when they were "immediately" met by gunfire. During his September report to the Charlotte City Council, CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings told city leaders his department was working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools on initiatives and programs to divert teens from crime. The CMPD is addressing another trend with increased enforcement.
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. Cooper offered his condolences to the law enforcement officers shot on Monday. During Tuesday's news conference, Jennings said Hughes fired shots at officers from the upstairs of the home in both the front and the back.
Authorities are working to learn where the guns were bought. Authorities also recovered ammunition and magazines for the weapons at the scene. A fifth officer with the Statesville Police Department was also injured in the shooting, the department said on Facebook. Overall crime in Charlotte is up 11% due to a recent spike in property crime, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Thursday.
The president urged leaders in Congress to take action “to combat the scourge of gun violence” by banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and by passing universal background checks, among other measures. By evening, shelter-in-place orders had been lifted, and yellow crime scene tape sectioned off part of the street where the shooting had occurred. Coverage from WCNC said at least four schools in the area went on a modified lockdown as a result of the nearby police activity, with many parents concerned about how their children would be safely transported home. The active gunfire was happening around the same time schools would typically begin releasing students. The Charlotte Police Department held a news conference Tuesday morning about the shooting, featuring remarks from Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein and Ronald Davis, director of the U.S.
The CMPD has held a giveaway for steering wheel “club” anti-theft devices for Kia and Hyundai vehicles with another giveaway event scheduled for April 29th. CMPD’s Public Affairs Office has put out materials on the Kia/Hyundai Challenge with prevention tips to educate vehicle owners. Jennings says one of the concerning trends is an increase in guns stolen from vehicles. "A 5% decrease in violent crime is encouraging, but we will continue to remain laser-focused on deterring these serious offenses in 2023," said Jennings.
Chase White was shot in Tucson, Arizona, by a man wanted for stalking local law enforcement officers, the agency said. In all, eight law enforcement officials were shot, including two correction officers who were killed and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer who was critically wounded and later died. The department touted Operation Heartbeat, one of its newer initiatives designed to reduce violent crime.
So far in 2023, there have been 3,752 total thefts of both makes, which is an 842% increase. The spike in auto thefts is traced back to a social media trend, the ‘Kia Challenge’ that originated in the summer of 2022. It gave details on how to steal Kia and Hyundai vehicles easily without needing keys.
Ayer is survived by a wife and 3-year-old son, Jennings said Monday night. The fourth officer killed was Joshua Eyer, a member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, the department said Monday night. Polche's wife, Cielo Poloche, told CBS News her husband was "passionate about his work and he was passionate about helping people and protecting people and being part of his team." The two had been married for 22 years, she said. The suspect may have also fired at the officers after he was shot outside the house, Jennings said. The suspect was shooting at the officers from the upstairs of the house, Jennings said.
