Off-duty officer shoots, kills 1 at N.C. mall
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A man was fatally shot Christmas Eve by an off-duty officer following a fight inside Northlake Mall, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said.
Just after 2 p.m. Thursday, reports began surfacing of a shooting inside of Northlake Mall. Police said there was a long-standing argument between two groups of people that erupted with shots fired inside the mall.
Chief Kerr Putney of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Officer Thomas Ferguson was working off-duty at the mall when he heard the shots and confronted a man who pointed a gun in his direction.
The officer then “fired his service weapon,” Putney said. The suspect was given emergency aid, but medics pronounced him dead shortly afterward, officials said. Police identified him as Daquan Antonio Westbrook, 18.
No officers were injured during the incident.
The shooting was not a random act but rather the result of a feud among people who knew each other — though there was no indication it was gang-related, Putney said.
Shoppers who were crowding the mall for last-minute gifts hid in stores and locked themselves inside, officials said. Police could be seen blocking all mall entrances.
Jake Wallace, 24, of Boone, N.C., was in Dick’s Sporting Goods when shots rang out nearby — about 30 feet outside the store, near Journey’s shoe store on the lower level, according to police.
“I thought someone dropped something. It was extremely loud. Didn’t think anything of it,” Wallace said. “You don’t think gunshots. But then I heard a rapid fire. Once hearing that, there was no mistaking it. It sounded like someone was unloading a clip.”
Chaos erupted as shoppers dove for cover or tried to get out the door, Wallace said.
Don Willis, who works as a valet at the mall, said he heard gunshots, then saw a wave of people exiting the mall.
“It was wild. I heard the first shot and I thought, ‘Wait. What was that?’ And kind of like started turning around and walking and saw this huge line of people — wave of people coming — and I thought a bomb was about to go off, and I just took off,” he said.
Contributing: The Associated Press