The following is pretty much verbatim from the CMPD press release.
According to CMPD Officer Joshua Skipper was the first officer to arrive on the scene and make contact with the robbery victim and the occupants of a suspect vehicle.
As Officer Skipper waited on his backup to arrive, one of the suspects ran from the scene. Officer Skipper chased after him and a scuffle ensued on the ground as Officer Skipper attempted to place the suspect in handcuffs.
The robbery victim followed Officer Skipper as he attempted to arrest the suspect who fled the scene.
Moments later, Officer Prince Blue arrived on scene and ran towards Officer Skipper to assist placing the suspect in custody.
Officer Skipper carries a backup pistol, which is allowed by CMPD Directives. Unfortunately Officer Skipper's backup weapon came loose from of his holster and fell to the ground without his knowledge, as Officer Skipper was placing the suspect under arrest.
At some point the robbery victim picked up Officer Skipper’s backup pistol and walked back towards the suspect vehicle and pointed it at the suspect who remained at the vehicle.
Officer Skipper then noticed that the robbery victim was pointing a handgun at the suspect who remained at the vehicle. Officer Skipper told Officer Blue to tell the man to drop the weapon. Officer Blue at the time was unaware that the man holding the gun was in fact the victim of the robbery.
Officer Blue repeatedly commanded the robbery victim to drop the weapon, at which time the robbery victim reportedly turned towards the officers and pointed the weapon directly at them. Officer Blue then fired his weapon three times at the victim, striking him once in the leg. The officers called Medic for the victim and he was transported to CMC where he was treated and released.
Officer Blue is on Administrative Leave pending the outcome of the Internal Affairs investigation into the shooting. There will be no charges filed against the robbery victim.
Cedar's Take: When a police officer says "drop the weapon" that should be your one and only chance. Also if I shoot you three times you will not make it to the hospital. I suspect that Officer Blue needs some extra range time. Other than poor shooting Officer Blue did nothing wrong.
Update:
CMPD Officers have arrested a total of four suspects in the robbery case, each has been charged with Armed Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon and Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery.
The suspects are:
Latoya Lynn McRae, DOB: 1/1/1984 she has one prior adult arrest.
L C Melton, DOB: 5/27/1987 who has been arrested a number of times in the past.
Ronald Dewayne Deese, DOB: 2/5/1988 Records show that Deese has been arrested nearly a dozen times on nearly 23 charges over the past three years.
Courtney Skie Miller, DOB: 7/27/1988 who has been arrested at least ten times in the last two years having been charged with more than 20 offenses.
The prior CMPD press release reported the facts in detail before it was understood that the shooting victim was also the robbery victim.
Detectives with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Homicide Unit and ADW Unit are conducting an investigation into an officer involved shooting in the 4900 block of Central Avenue at the Central Pointe Apartment Complex. The call for service was reported at 3:22 a.m., on Sunday, September 11, 2011. The subject who was shot has been transported to Carolinas Medical Center with a non-life threatening injury to the leg.
Eastway Division Officers responded to a call for service in reference to a robbery. Upon arrival, the first responding officer encountered a vehicle in the parking lot outside 4903 Central Avenue and a subject pointing towards the car. As additional officers arrived, multiple suspects jumped from the vehicle and ran from the scene. A scuffle ensued on the ground as an officer attempted to take one of the vehicle’s occupants into custody. Officer Prince Blue noticed a subject standing nearby holding a handgun and ordered him to drop the weapon multiple times. After seeing the subject raise the handgun, point it in the direction of officers and refuse to drop the handgun, Officer Blue fired his pistol at least once, striking him once in the leg. Medic responded to the scene and transported the subject to Carolinas Medical Center. Two vehicle occupants have been detained. Detectives are canvassing the complex to determine if there are any additional witnesses to this incident.
Officer Prince Blue has been a member of the CMPD since September 14, 2009. He is currently assigned to the Eastway Division as a Patrol Officer. Detectives with the Homicide Unit are conducting the shooting investigation while Detectives with the Internal Affairs Unit will conduct a separate but parallel investigation to determine whether or not CMPD policies and procedures were adhered to during the course of the incident.
Crime Scene Search responded to the call for service to process the scene and collect physical evidence.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 704-432-TIPS and speak directly to a Homicide Unit Detective. Detective Fitch is the lead detective assigned to the case. In addition, you may also call Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600. For additional information, reference CMPD complaint number 2011-0911-032200.
14 comments:
So CMPD Officer shoots the robbery victim who called the police in the first place and is so high on crack that he doesn't understand that pointing a gun at the COPS is a dumb idea.
What do you bet it turns out this whole thing was a drug deal. Please someone lock everyone of them up.
Whatever happened to the three strikes your out rule?
Maybe andrew will get rid of a couple of these repeat offenders this time! Ha! We will see.
Although it runs counter to most conventional wisdom and training standards, I wonder if Officer Blue was intentional shooting to wound, rather than shooting center-of-mass to stop? If he was just a few feet away from the victim he may have felt justified in going for a leg shot so as not to have a corpse on his conscience.
cedar, i invite you to try shooting under stress. its easy to shoot at a target that doesnt shoot back. but consider the physiological barriers that occur when stress is introduced. you lose peripheral vision and hearing. blood flows to the heart due to the adrenaline. you lose most of your basic motor skills. no training can fix despite all the training and you can ask anyone who has ever been in combat or involved in a shooting. ask them how many times they heard shots fired. i can promise they didnt hear a one because of these barriers. shame on you cedar for saying that. what if he was shooting on the move so he wasnt in a direct line of fire? oh wait you werent there so you dont know. its easy for you to monday morning quarterback that one and say what you would have done. im sure you are such a badass. of course you would have been rambo and blasted him. get real you office hound. i say go join the military and show us what youve got then or just shut the f@ck up and be happy the officer did his job.
Love our Keystoned Cops.
Bumbling, Fumbling idiots in blue.
The only people dumber are the judges and the district attorney who let these idiots run loose.
I give you this the vic in this as well the vic has a rap sheet about as long as the crooks.
I think I say this is a cartoon show staring Officer Skipper, and Officer Prince Blue?
Come on Cedar why don't you give their real names?
Huh? Oh that is their real names?
That explains everything.
Well the cop didn't know who he was. The cop was called to a robbery and the IDIOT(victim) picked up the cops gun and pointed it the robber.
I believe the cop had it under control and the young gun decided to take matters into his own hands when he didn't need to. If the officer arriving walks up and sees a gun pointed at a person he has NO IDEA who they are. Some folks don't have common sense.
I'll have to speak up about the comment that Officer Skipper had it under control.
Skipper is lucky he is alive.
First the guy running. Skipper should have let him run, cuffed the other suspect who stayed in the car then waited for other units. Before charging down an unlit path in the middle of the night.
The second suspect could have just as well been the person who picked up his weapon and the outcome would not have been good.
Basic stuff here guys never lose your weapon, never get yourself between two suspects.
As far as Blue who knows, if he was running for cover and firing then it doesn't seem likley he ordered the suspect to drop the weapon.
This event is text book what not to do.
This will be hard on Officer Blue. The shooting should be justified, but that does not mean it makes it any easier to get over.
Yes, most police shootings have less than a 50% hit ratio. I highly doubt Blue was aiming to wound. The distance between Blue and the person with the gun could be close or it could be fairly far away based on the fact the one guy was running from the scene.
Yes, Skipper should have let the guy running go. It's a tough call to make and sometimes tunnel vision comes into play. I also want to know why the robbers were still sitting there.
So now even the cops have "street names" Prince Blue?
Does that make Rodney "King Blue"?
They should have tazed the guy but oh no CMPD doesn't have tasers do they?
To 7:03 am.
The dumbest people on the planet are not cops, victims or even judges. The dumbest people on the planet are Dallas Cowboys fans, which are 99.99% of all criminal suspects.
Cedar you are an IDIOT. Everytime a cop shoots someone you blame the cop. Maybe you should spend sometime behind a badge and see how real life is instead of behind a computer screen.
Turns out the shooting vic was a mexican and did understand the command to put the gun down.
Guess he does now!
Dumb ass mexicans.
You can just hear the cops Blue and Sprinkles or whatever his names. Suspect on the ground yelling Blue yelling Sprinkles yell.
What did you shoot him for? I don't know he wouldn't put the gun down. I told you not to shoot him.
Oh hell I thought you said shoot him.
No I said don't shoot him!
We are toast.
None of this should have taken place. I am the mother of someone directly envolved and I feel the officers did what they should have done. It is really easy for folks to be negative to those putting their lives on the line everyday. What would you do if anyone, and I say anyone had a gun on you or your commrades? No one deserves to be robbed at gun point no matter their background. No one knows what was going through his mind...fear, terror, just simply freaking out. God bless our men in blue that protect us each and everyday. Please pray for all envolved in this. I pray for the officers, I pray they continue to protect us and I pray for their safety. I pray for the victim, that he heals and that if he does have a RAP sheet, he makes a change in his life. I pray for my child, I pray that this may make my child understand and you have to make good choices and that you have to own your mistakes and learn from them and not make the same freaking mistakes again. I pray for all of those arrested, I pray that some how they will come to respect themselves and the world. You have work for what you have, drugs kill and ruin lives.
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